Konoha Nights
by Kane Shi Megami
Summary: AU. Gaara was an assassin from Sunagakure who was sent to murder Sakura a prostitute, who is being sought after by both Orochimaru and Akatsuki. Lies, sex, and betrayal are all part of Konoha Nights.
1. The Meeting

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**Summary:** Gaara was an assassin from Sunagakure who cared only for himself. To feel anything for a pink haired prostitute named Chlorisa, (sakura) who he was sent to kill was unthinkable.

AN: Just a warning beforehand, this is an AU, but there are still biju, shinobi and 'Land of so and so'. I do not intend to glorify drug usage or self abuse but it is mentioned in the story, so if you're not old enough to read about suicide and such please turn back around now. Also, the first chapter is the hardest to get through because it's not to clear on things, but the second chapter fills you in.

Alias meanings are given at the bottom of the chapter 

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

A silhouette dressed in black stood outside of a dark granite three story building. The light drizzle did little to affect him as he continued to study the structure. Fishing out a white paper from his trench coat he studied the business card once again.

'Ivy's Flower Shop' it read neatly in purple calligraphy along with a phone number.

Flipping it over the other side simply said 'Chlorisa' written in tilted script with a black ball point pen. The drizzle strengthened blurring the ink so he pulled it into the sleeve of his coat and stepped under the protection of the purple tarp cover of the shop.

This part of town during the day was one of the busiest in Konoha he'd heard; but all business ceased at 6 pm for safety reasons. This section did not belong to the two corrupted power circles yet, but in order to keep the crime away they only operated during the day. At night it was practically a ghost town.

This one looked like your average business with the windows clean and its logo- a flower behind 'Ivy's Flowers' on the glass. He could see bundles of flowers in the refrigerated display cases along with pictures on the walls of sample flower arrangements.

The white walls were offset by the bouncing colors of the flowers and the white counter stood in the corner with two doors behind it. There was no one in the shop, probably had something to do with the late hour, but the door was open so he pushed the metal bar and stepped in. The bells that were hanging from the doorway jingled slightly with the motion of the door alerting its owner to his intrusion.

Within seconds a woman ran out of the first door with her blonde ponytail swinging behind her as she fought for breath. She was dressed in a purple sleevless halter baring her midriff along with a purple skirt that was indecent considering it was fall. Her black stilettos looked incredibly high, higher than he'd ever seen a woman wear.

Probably had something to do with the fact that he was only around kunoichi women. Trying to imagine Temari walking around in such attire almost made him scoff at the very idea.

She wasn't stupid enough to try it.

And also wasn't a prostitute.

The blonde's piercing blue eyes with lavender eye shadow stared at him not saying a word. Instead she appeared to be looking for something as she studied his attire brushing her bangs from her eyes.

Black combat boots, black baggy pants, black tank, black jacket, she observed before focusing on his maroon hair not meeting his turquoise eyes. She walked past him with impressive grace and closed the blinds on both windows and the door and locked it.

"Can I help you with anything?" Her voice too forced to be welcoming.

The man said nothing but pulled out the business card ad held it between his index and middle finger. Her eyes studied the card for a minute before extending her hand for it. He complied laying the card in her outstretched one. She flipped it over to read the back and her eyes widened.

He said nothing only continued to watch and wait. He knew his face wouldn't betray the rush he was beginning to feel, like on any mission he underwent.

"Could you please release the illusion jutsu on your forehead please?"

Kankuro had not mentioned that he'd told them of his tattoo, he'd have to suffer for it later he decided as he disabled the illusion.

A crimson 'ai' appeared on the left side and she visible relaxened and handed the card back. "I'm sorry I had to ask you to do that, but we're really precautious around here. We were told by your associate that the tattoo would be the only way of identifying you since few actually knew about it."

He nodded; irritated that he'd actually had to show it to anyone else. The woman went to the light switch by the door and flipped them both off. The orange light from the outside posts hardly helped the darkened space.

"You're pretty early, I'm not even sure if she's here yet. We usually don't do business around here till two at least," she said as she walked around to the cashier turning it off. She walked to the second door and stopped to pull a key on a silver chain out from her top. Opening it she held it back for him as he stepped into a cold dank room. "Just so you know customers typically use the back entrance once they get their key okay?"

It was a spacious refrigerated room with a huge iron door that probably lead to deep freezer. The clicking of her heels alerted him that she was walking away at a fast pace, so he turned to follow her deeper into the back of the badly lit storage room.

She opened another door with the same key and this one lead to a stairwell. Two flights of metal stairs that enhanced the clicking and thudding of their ascension. Their echoes bounced off the concrete walls. This time there was no door, only a concrete wall awaited them, it appeared to have an illusion. Stepping forwards she did a seal with her hands placing one on the door, instantly creating a doorway.

Motioning for him to enter he did so hesitantly, he had not pegged her for anything more than a whore, but the jutsu was at least a genin level one……she'd just made herself a threat to his mission.

Kankuro had not mentioned any kunoichi in the reports, perhaps he'd been too drunk to do his job right, or maybe he did it on purpose- either way he was going to lose a limb when he saw him again.

The room he'd just entered was beyond spacious. It was just one large flat that was the area of the entire building. A large oak desk sat at the northern wall and the air smelled of freshly polished wooden floors. When he thought of brothel, this wasn't what he had in mind.

There was another woman in the room with them now, sat in an oversized leather chair with her bare long tan legs crossed on top of the desk, one foot swaying with a slim golden chain on her swaying ankle. She flipped through a magazine a shuriken twirling on her finger.

His guide walked towards her and he followed, his heavy boots echoed on the hard wood floors throughout the empty room. Although the other woman was still sitting at a great distance from them, he could distinctly hear music coming from the headset she wore.

If she noticed them she didn't show it and instead continued to browse turning pages. The most obvious trait about her was that she was of Chinese decent, the red tube top she wore had a golden dragon stitched onto it and the two buns on her head made her appear young also, probably the same age as the one next to him.

The reached the front of the desk and he noticed that she wore matching red panties with a dragon's tail on them and nothing else. She looked up with fire burning in her eyes and he knew instantly that this was his brother's whore.

'Amaryllis' he called her once in the reports.

When she saw the blonde she sobered immediately placing the magazine on the desk she stood up to greet them. "Meadow, you know better than sneaking in a toy before work hours," the brunette teased the shuriken still twirling.

'Meadow' and 'Amaryllis' were both aliases, and he wondered if everyone here would be a damn plant.

"For your information this is Crow's associate."

Whatever point she was trying to prove was missed on her because her eyes lit up with excitement immediately, intimidation forgotten, "No way! You're Crow's associate! But you look so much younger than him," she let out a small chuckle, "how is it that you boss _him _around?"

It wasn't the first time someone underestimated him, he was two years younger than his brother and two inches shorter also, but Kankuro knew he was no wear near the level of power that he possessed. He knew this, that's why it was so easy to use it on his enemies; after all it wasn't every day that a Jounin could be taken out by someone who'd just had their eighteenth birthday.

The man ignored her 'nice' insult offering a glare.

The humor fell of her face and instead pouted, "Geez, Crow was right you do need to get laid," she tossed over her shoulder as she went back to the desk."

'Meadow' stepped between them, "Page Magnolia and tell her she needs to come examine him before he can go see Chlorisa."

Amaryllis who'd reached the desk looked back, "He's here to see Chlorisa? Hmm…..he does fit the tall, dark and brooding profile does he." She shrugged, "Too bad he can't, because she's not here tonight." She sat back down propping her legs back up on the bare desk.

"Are you insane! Did you not just hear a word I said? This is Crow's associate," Meadow shrieked, "You know, the one he paid a month in advance for, for two entire weeks…..on _Chlorisa's_ rate, you can't just send him away just because Mag ain't here!"

The brunette was back to reading her magazine- which was a weapons catalog- shuriken poking out of her top, only shrugged again. "Hibiscus is here."

"Fine. Then page her and go ahead and send an iris to Chlorisa."

Amaryllis sighed but reached down under the desk and pressed two buttons, "There," she said and placed her headphones back on with the music less blaring and more reasonable.

The blonde turned back to him, "I'm sorry about her, she's kind of going through a thing right now."

"….."

"Anyway, go ahead and walk towards the seal on the floor over there and we'll check you out okay? Stand in the center circle."

He began walking, and a marking took shape on the wooden floor five yards away to the left of where he'd been standing. It was relatively large circle in shape, with kanji of different things written in it. A smaller circle was inside blank; he stood in it and waited anxious to get this step out of the way.

He'd never had an examination in his life, he never needed one. Looking up he noticed there was an identical array burned into the ceiling as well. A door shut quietly somewhere behind him and he saw a different woman again, this one had deep short cobalt hair with bangs. The large orange jacket she wore consumed her entirely and reached past her bottom. Her legs and feet were bare and she twiddled her thumbs nervously when she spotted him.

"Hibiscus great!" Meadow's voice bounced off the walls and held the younger girl's attention and stopped the annoying fidgeting.

"I need you to run a quick scan so that I can send him Chlorisa."

The fidgeting came back with a vengeance. "But…….Maggie said I wasn't finished with-

"Yeah well she ain't here and he paid good money to be here so do a damn scan."

Meadow was once again in his line of sight only this time she held a clipboard and pen. The seals underneath him activated as they turned a light amethyst, Hibiscus he noted was kneeling at the edge with both palms pressed to the ground. She began calling out information and Meadow began writing.

"Age: 18."

"Blood type: AB"

"Weight: 66.1 kg"

"Height: 176.5 cm"

The ramblings continued and the man allowed himself to observe the girl more closely. She was by far the youngest of the three, and had some medical training to be performing such a technique. The distasteful orange jacket that was zipped to the chin only made her seem more petite. He spotted a red patch with a swirl on the left sleeve, so whoever it belonged to was a shinobi of the Leaf. According to Kankuro they never let clients see another so maybe it would stay that way. The girl looked up and he saw that her eyes were a pale violet with no pupils and the veins around them were protruding.

He knew these eyes; they were a clan trait that only existed in Konoha. This small girl in front of him was a Hyuuga and she had the Byakugan activated.

"No known allergies."

"Is that it Hibiscus?"

"Yes," she whispered "he's completely clean and healthy."

"Great let's get him to-

A piercing scream came from the floor above them and Hibiscus and Meadow paled. Amaryllis shot out of her chair a kunai in hand, "Shit!"

A door materialized on the wall behind her and she ran through it and shot up the stairs Meadow following close behind. He began to follow when a small voice behind him spoke, "I didn't tell them…….about who you really are……I'm glad you're here……"

When he turned back to face her she was gone. The gears in his mid were turning trying to understand the cryptic message. 'The Shukaku' he thought, 'she didn't tell them he housed a biji in his body, but instead told him she was glad he was here.'

Another scream was heard, the same voice but louder, this time it was followed by two curse words from Amaryllis. He went through the door and up the stairs taking three at a time. The next floor had no hidden door only a small dark hallway with three doors in total. The door at the end of the hallway caught his attention, a struggle was taking place and familiar voiced reached his ears only slightly muffled by the door.

"She fucking over did it again."

"Shit and Shizune isn't here tonight."

"We're going to have to take her to a hospital."

"You know we can't do that! They'll fucking notice her as soon as we carry her through the door!"

"If we don't do it she'll die!"

"Just knock her unconscious and we'll take her to Shizune's!"

Curiosity ate away at his resolve not to open the door. 'You're mission could be behind the door' his demon reasoned.

'You just smell blood' his mind shot back.

And he did smell blood, very sweet metallic blood that called to his already sensitive blood lusting senses, stirring the caged biju inside him.

Opening the door he was met with a trashed oversize flat. Space was a luxury and this was beyond wealthy. Probably four larger bedrooms could fit inside it, black walls and carpet with a mirrored ceiling that only reflected the large mess.

A dresser was thrown down as well as a broken lamp. Meanwhile at the center of the right wall was king size bed with black sheets with three women on top of it. Meadow and Amaryllis were currently holding down the legs and arms of a pink haired woman who was thrashing in the bed.

Se was the most clothed of the three in black shorts and black sweatshirt making the paleness of her skin stand out more. Her movements became more violent and Amaryllis had to straddle her waist just to hold her arms.

"Leave me alone!" The woman held down shouted to the ceiling training in vain to buck the woman on top of her off.

"Stop it Chlorisa! Snap out of it! You need to stop doing this to yourself!" the blonde shouted and it was the first time he noticed both she and the other girl were fighting back their tears. Needless and a shoelace on the floor confirmed his suspicion. Judging by the number of empty syringes, she'd taken a massive overdose of what he guessed was morphine.

It was truly disappointing that his S-Class mission had committed suicide only minutes before his arrival. The girl on the bed stopped her tremors and her thrashing, what a waste of time. He felt something hot come over his body and looked closer at the still girl.

She wasn't dead. She was look at him straight on.

"You have the most beautiful eyes," she said in a dazed voice.

The woman on top took the opportunity and hit a spot in her neck and the emerald eyes that were on him rolled up to the back of her head.

Two new figures came running into the room, one he recognized as Hibiscus the other woman was much older, maybe thirty in a black robe and sandals. "What happened?" she asked as she checked the vitals. Meadow took her leave and he followed. Leading him to the front door of the shop she held out a silver key with a pink stone in it.

"We're lucky you were here tonight, if you hadn't distracted her she would have eventually overpowered us and probably have escaped."

"….."

"She'll be alright tomorrow but don't come until after three, and today won't count against your two-

"She's not dead?" He asked in deadpan voice.

She smiled softly, tears returning, "No matter how much she wishes she were dead, fate will not let her die."

He took the key and began walking out the door, "They key hold is ten bricks from the left wall and ten up from the ground," she called out behind him. He didn't know exactly why she was so confident that her coworker wouldn't die, it was clear to him she'd overdosed. Maybe this mission would be slightly more difficult than they'd planned. The October chill walked him back to his hotel room and he remembered his target's words,

'You have the most beautiful eyes,'

He snorted pulling the coat closed. No one had ever said that to him, in fact, only the opposite was ever said. His father hated his eyes because he said he saw his wife in them.

Kankuro said they were too creepy.

Temari because she said they had no life.

His victims had all seen their death in them…….

But this girl was different. He'd chalk it up to the fact that she was on a high and she didn't know what she was saying……..

Still, it was a shame he'd come all the way to Konoha to kill her tomorrow

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

AN: Hello and welcome to those of you who made it this far! I know what many of you were thinking on the tentenxkankuro part but trust me it's not going to stay that way.

Gaara too only met Sakura for like two seconds but don't worry the rest of the story will be about them, just wanted to set up the 'setting' in a way. Tons more information will be given out next but no more new working girls.

And by the way Shizune's name was suppose to slip out on purpose it's not a typo 

First off Ivy- signifies fidelity; I thought that was pretty ironic for a brothel.

Amaryllis-Tenten, signifies pride, or prideful also splendid beauty, I thought it fit Tenten a bit.

Chlorisa- Sakura comes from the Greek goddess of Spring named Chloris, I just added an 'a'.

Magnoilia- Shizune- means lover of nature, and in this story she's going to kind of be a mother figure…..

Hibiscus- Hinata- means delicate beauty and I thought it fit her since she's petite, and she's going to be a few years younger than the other girls, and she's not a prostitute, just works there. But you'll see why later ;)

And the 'aliases' will be lost somewhere along the way so don't get discouraged because of this, they'll be gone soon enough!

The 'clients' usually have an animal code name for safety reasons. Kankuro's name meant crow, or one of his puppets was named crow so it fit.

As for the examination- this place takes care of its workers in a way, and to do so it makes sure the 'clients' aren't ill so they won't pass it along to the girls.

OH and yes Kankuro, Gaara and Temari are siblings, but for mission purposes they aren't suppose to know this till later and comes back to bite Gaara in the ass……

The measurements were taken from Gaara's father's stats. Kinda figured he'd get some of his traits.

Okay so like it hate it? Still have questions? Let me know!


	2. The Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto; they belong to someone else.

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Mission**

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Looking at the white clock on the wall it read 2:15, he still had forty five minutes to kill before having to go to his appointment and five till he had to report. Taking a small blank scroll from his bag he used the nightstand by the bed to write out in code his findings.

The woman Sakura was currently using an alias, there were kunoichi in the building, at least two, another was a medical nin of Hyuuga decent. He also wrote Shizune and underlined it meaning he needed more information on her. 'Mission is going as planned' he wrote last.

A scratching at the window alerted him to his messenger, Kamatari, his sister's summon stood awaiting the scroll, he handed it to him watching as he scaled the top of the building before jumping to the next. Temari would intercept him at the gate they'd secured and take it back to headquarters.

2:29. Laying back on the bed his thoughts wandered to Sunagakure three weeks ago.

"_Only Kankuro will be able to assist you if something should happen; he'll be a days worth of travel to the East send a message through the summons. You'll report three days for as long as you are in Konoha, your messages will be collected through Temari, though she will not be aware of the situation."_

_The Kazekage slammed his hand down on the mahogany desk, scrolls rolling off as he did so. The sun setting behind the Kage made oranges leak into the room through the large window. _

"_I understand Kazekage-sama."_

_The man who only wore his white robes crossed his arms over his chest a pose that Kankuro took to often making the similarities between the two even greater. _

"_This is an S-Class mission Gaara, it's up to you and if you fail it could be your life."_

"_You and I both know that it would be a favor to you if I failed and was captured." He said taking the scroll of the desk with his mission encoded on it. He unraveled it and read. _

_It seemed easy enough, a bit too easy._

"_Why is this a S-Class mission? An assassination depending on the person could rank no higher than an A."_

_The Kage in front creased his brows, "It's complicated……it appears that someone is planning on trying to take Konoha back and restore it to what it once was. This man was one of the sannin and he believes his pupil would be an honorable Hokage. So they have contacted me in hopes of an alliance."_

"_What will Sunagakure receive."_

_The tanned man grinned, "If we succeed in helping them kill Orochimaru, then for the first year after, 95 of their missions will be redirected to us. We'll also receive half of their medical nin, trade will only be with the sand and in return we lend them a handful of shinobi."_

"_It seems beneficial to the sand. What about Akatsuki, they too will have to be dealt with in order to allow the Hokage to manipulate Konoha's funds." he asked rolling the scroll back up._

"_Akatsuki will be handled at the same time as Orochimaru." He leaved the folders he had set out on the desk, "The Sannin I spoke to is capable of killing Orochimaru, it's the trash around him that he needs help with. Baki and two ANBU are being dispatched tomorrow to try and infiltrate his lair and capture a man named Kabuto."_

_He showed him a picture of man in his twenties with gray hair in a low ponytail with glasses. "What is his importance to Orochimaru?"_

"_He is the one that helps him perform his body switching technique. Orochimaru is over fifty years old and has been dabbling in the dark arts, on of them is an immortality technique that allows him to transfer his soul into a new body."_

_If Gaara had eyebrows, one would have been raised, "How often can he perform this?"_

"_As many times as he wants, but he has to wait at least three years to do so. His next vessel has been with him since he was six his name is Uchiha Saskue." He laid out another picture; this one was of a man probably the same age as himself with messy black hair and crimson Sharingan eyes. The eyes of 'the curse' he'd read a long time ago, would allow you to copy any technique that was not a blood trait. Combining it with the soul of a veteran Sanin who knew dark jutsu was a problem._

"_What will be done about him once Kabuto is taken care of?"_

"_The Sanin believes that the future Hokage can handle him alone."_

"_I see." _ 'He sounds like a powerful guy'_ he thought._

_He nodded slightly taking his leave when the Kazekage called him back._

"_There is still much more you need to know about Gaara," he said "Make the necessary arrangements to depart tomorrow and meet me here after the council meeting."_

_The thought of having to spend any more time with him churned his stomach; the only time he spoke to his 'father' was when he received a mission. He wasn't part of the ABNU of Sunagakure, but Gaara only reported to the Kazekage, his 'allegiance' was to the Sand, but his life belonged only to Gaara._

Rising from the bed the picked up the coat next to him, his mission was not to be rushed, and he'd be given two weeks to do it but the sooner he left Konoha the better. Opening the window he jumped down two stories before walking through the empty alley. Taking the longest route back to the flower shop he tucked his hands into his pockets.

It was strange for him to not have his gourd with him, this had been the only mission he'd been required to not wear it. His ID said he was only a traveler, so all forms of identification had to be left in Sunagakura, to them he was only a wanderer who'd last been in the Country of Wind.

_He met with the Kage again that night and this time he told him to sit in one of the plush red chairs in front of him. _

"_As you know, the legendary Sannin of Konoha are known to have been the most powerful there ever was. One is Orochimaru, the man who contacted me named Jiraiya is another. But the last one was said to have disappeared mysteriously 17 years ago, her name was Tsunade," he flipped through the folders producing a small torn picture of a tall blonde woman with a fairly large chest, brown eyes and a purple diamond on her forehead._

"_..." he placed it back in the folder and closed it._

"_It was rumored that she was murdered by Orochimaru and everyone seemed to have believed it, but Jiraiya mentioned that she left behind a daughter."_

"_My target."_

"_Yes."_

"_This still doesn't explain why she would be play such an important role in the downfall of Orochimaru."_

_This time the older man smiled a smile that told Gaara that he liked him ignorant and relying on him for information. _'Bastard_' he thought to himself. _

"_That's because it's his daughter as well."_

_He didn't bother trying to hide the shock, hell it was shocking. The man who'd come back to Konoha, murdered a hundred shinobi of the Leaf, murdered the Third Hokage, had a daughter, a daughter that was currently a prostitute with no contact with her father._

"_There was no emotion in his decision to reproduce, you see Tsunade was known for having the best chakra control as well as intelligence and Orochimaru needed a new body, so it makes sense for him to be born into himself in a way."_

"_Take his child's body."_

"_Yes. Orochimaru is picky about his new vessel and he'd chosen weak bodies before, so this time he wanted a child that would be born with so much potential the power available to him could be limitless. So he somehow or another he impregnated her, the only problem was-_

"_He had a girl."_

_The Kage laughed, "Yes…..It's such a shame we have to kill such a conniving and manipulative genius. Anyway, he kept her regardless and found another vessel named Kimimaro and Tsunade was never heard from again. The child was never really seen and there are no pictures of her currently on record, but she too mysteriously disappeared when she was 9."_

"_And now she's a prostitute."_

"_About three years ago she appeared out of nowhere and is currently in Konoha. According to a Sound nin captured by Jiraiya, Orochimaru has been trying to convince her to join him but she refuses."_

"_What's stopping him from taking her?"_

"_The girl apparently has some strong alliances and if he gets near her, he'd have Akatsuki and the Konoha families in an uproar. As it stands now there's a unique standoff. Three powerhouses, one is Orochimaru, who controls 45 of the city and its money, then there's Akatsuki they too control around 45. And then there are the remaining elder families of Konoha that survived Orochimaru's assault. The Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Nara, Aburame and Yamanaka. They control the last 10 the center city, and although it's not much, it's enough to keep Orochimaru away because he knows that Jiraiya protects them._

_So far, there have been no wars between the three, although there have been losses to all three sides. Akatsuki's true objectives are still unknown but they are powerful enough to make me wonder why they protect this girl."_

"_What are Ochimaru's intentions for the girl?"_

_He smiled again, it was getting strange watching the Kazekage admire such a corrupt figurehead, probably had something to do with the fact that he too was a figurehead at one point. _

"_After he inhabits his new body, he'll try to create a perfect vessel again."_

'He's disgusting, to sleep with his own flesh just to sustain his immortality.'

"_When Orochimaru and his vessel are out of the way, the elder families of Konoha will need our alliance to help them terminate the Akatsuki."_

"_Will I be a part of this battle as well?" he asked already knowing what his dear father had planned._

"_Of course, you're our trump card, we give you a nice nap and the Akatsuki will be in ruins by the end of the day."_

'You sound too confident considering I never said I would do it.' _"So you're asking me to join with the Leaf to help win you the alliance."_

_Anger was not a stranger on the Kazekage's face, infact it was almost always in a scowl, and as he slammed the desk once again Gaara calmly rose and headed toward the door. "Don't you dare talk to me like that boy! Never forget your place! I don't **ask** you to do anything, I **tell** you."_

"_There's nothing you could do about it anyway _father_," he sneered the last word as he walked out of the Kazekage's office._

He stood in front of the brick wall and reached into his pocket for the key. Pulling it out he located the hole and put it in. The wall materialized into a door, he stepped inside and this time there were only stairs. This stairwell had wooden steps and was much better lit than any he'd been in here. Reaching his destination he pulled out his key and the door opened without having to put it in the hole.

Amaryllis was there again, sitting with her legs on the desk shuriken twirling on her finger. "I see you're back."

"Yes."

"Chlorisa's expecting you, I'm sure you remember her room right?" She asked.

He nodded and began walking to where the door was last time. The wall once again changed to a door. 'I wonder if I'll ever get use to the fact that there is never a fucking door.'

The hallway was dark once again, and he could see that all three rooms had light underneath them. In fact one of the rooms had people in it……He reached the door and knocked. The smell of smoke reached his nose and he cringed, he hated cigarettes.

The door swung open and his Chrlorisa stood there looking very much alive in a black mesh top with black bra and the same black shorts. She studied him for a while, before she broke out into a grin.

"I wasn't hallucinating; your eyes really are that way."

He wasn't too sure how to respond to that so he walked in instead, and she closed the door behind him.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

AN: Hello again! Congratulations you made it through another chapter, kudos. I know it seems a bit slow and then information overload, but things should get settled here pretty soon. Next chapter Gaara and Sakura actually have a gasp conversation! Seriously ; ).

Anyway, I hope it wasn't too confusing! Feel free to ask questions if you have them.

Thanks for reading.


	3. The First Impression

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaraxSakura**

**The First Impression**

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; they are not mine at all!

AN: looks around Okay….so no questions, I guess that's a good thing! Now onward!

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

The black room was more collected since yesterday, mostly bare still but things were upright. He leaned on the wall next to the door arms crossed and watched as she strolled past with the creepy smile on her face. She plopped down on her silk sheeted bed "So first things first, you need a name."

"I have a name."

"Yes," she nodded, "I am aware of that, but I need you to have another one that I can call you and for the books."

"I didn't think we would be doing any talking."

She chuckled tilting her head back slightly, "Well that's true, but you never know, sometimes in the throes of passion a woman can call out her lover's name."

"….."

The truth of the matter was he never planned to sleep with her, maybe get her close enough to 'sand coffin' her without her suspecting, but sex on a mission was the worst decision a shinobi could ever make.

"Oh man, I really hope you're not the silent type because I really hate to do the talking."

"Why do I not believe that," he said as he let his eyes study the room.

She chuckled again, it was a light laugh and foreign to him, no one laughed in Sunagakure. "Well at least you have a sense of humor…..now let's see……..I guess I could call you……."

'Only two exits, one window that looks operational and the door. The window would probably lead to the alley next to the bakery.' He thought planning his escape after the mission had been executed.

"Love."

"What?" he questioned tearing his eyes back to the girl.

"Love…..Lover……or……"

"Do you call of your clients such affectionate names?" he asked annoyed.

"No. But not all of them have that particular kaji tattooed on their foreheads." she winked at him.

Knowing that he still had the illusion spell active he deduced that she was of a much better at seeing through illusions than the others here. He'd have to study her a bit more before acting.

"…….."

"Okay, I guess you have a 'dry' sense of humor," she added.

"Why don't I just give you a name?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You could subconsciously give me a name that would reveal too much about you. The walls unfortunately have ears and we like to keep this establishment 'retaliation' free between clients," she mirrored his pose and crossed her arms. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Well, I'll just have to pick out a name that fits your homeland."

'Homeland?' he though. Kankuro was given direct orders not to reveal that they were of the Sand, he was stupid sure, but even he wouldn't disregard direct orders from the Kazekage. Unless they had already been found out.

"You're from the west," her brow furrowed "to be exact you're from the Sand."

She opened her eyes to meet his, "So I'll call you Zephyrus."

"What the hell kind of a name is that?" he asked irritated. If she knew where he was from then she probably knew why he was here, so why was she not afraid of him? Was this a trap?

Waving him off she sighed, "Okay I see that's a bit too complicated for you…..It's actually a mythological figure but I guess we'll just call you Grumpy for now."

"What makes you think that I'm from the Sand?" he asked wanting to know just how bad the situation had become.

"Well that's easy; the only thing I can smell on you is sand and wind."

'Could she smell the sand armor that covered his entire body? It was his only defense when his gourd was not with him, especially since he wasn't even near any other sand…… and no one had ever detected it before.'

"You can smell wind," he said disbelievingly brushing off her earlier statement.

That was ridiculous; wind didn't smell it only carried scents. "Yes, it's kind of weird thing I have so don't worry too much about it." She stood up "Now for the rules. There aren't many, but if you break one I might have to break the arrangement."

Who ever heard of rules in a brothel?

"First off there can be no red." She picked up her hand and counted off on her fingers "That means anywhere, no red clothes, no red anywhere on your entire body and I will not change into red."

He nodded and she smiled picking up her middle finger, "Two, I hate these stupid names they give us so while you are in this room you will call me by my real name if you choose to call me by something. So you can call me Sakura."

"Third, I don't do basic missionary position."

"……"

"Fourth, anything else goes. I'm not entirely sure why your brother chose me for you but it probably has something to do with the fact that you like rough-

Her words were cut off by the hand that now held her throat barely allowing her air. "I guess he was right."

"Why in the hell do you think that bastard is my brother!" he hissed tightening his hold on her delicate neck.

Taking her two hands she pried his off, "I wasn't aware that this was a secret," she said still holding his wrist, "Or perhaps you just don't like him….either way you smell the same except that he has a weird cedar smell with him."

"He's not my sibling," he said taking to steps back.

Sakura shrugged, "It makes no difference to me who he is. He's been a good client here for almost a year and I did it as a favor to 'Amaryllis'" she quoted with her fingers as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, so I'm yours for the next two weeks, my schedule's been cleared and you can come as early as two," she pointed to the dresser on her left, "There are shuriken, kunai, ropes, whips and sebon in that one and I have access to any kind of narcotic enhancer you need."

He didn't move, he didn't even bother to look to where she had pointed. 'She wasn't kidding when she said anything went.' "Planning on a spar?" he asked dryly.

She looked completely confused as she sat there with both eyebrows raised. "Maybe you're not Crow's associate after all."

"What makes you say that?"

"Grumpy, there's only one reason why I get hired, and that's because -

The door to the bedroom slammed open and Amaryllis stood there heaving trying to catch her breath. Her buns had come slightly loose and there was a slash on her right cheek blood gushing. "Sakura you have to get out of here! Sasori…….he's back…..and we can't hold him back for much longer."

Sakura had already made it to the other kunoichi before she finished her sentence. She placed her hand on her cheek and a green light emitted from it. She removed it and the gash was no longer on her face, in fact it was as smooth as it always had been.

"You know that I won't run from him, he's just going to have to deal with the fact that I can't see him for the next two weeks. I'll go talk to him, go ahead and do a lock down and refund whoever's in there with Meadow." Her voice was calm and her poise stern despite the apparent crisis going on downstairs. "When you leave take Hibiscus with you and don't return here till tomorrow."

The other woman hung her head slightly, "Yes Sakura-san."

Sakura continued through the open doorway the other following not even noticing the man that was still there.

Gaara stood in the middle of the room where she'd left him. 'Sasori……. the name was conjuring so many familiar thoughts……..' mentally he felt like he hit a brick wall. "Sasori." There was no way there could be a connection between this man and the man from Sunakagure who'd disappeared so long ago. The Puppet Master. Sasori of the Red Sand.

'Shit,' he cursed at the situation he'd been put in. He wasn't here on behalf of the Sand, that much was certain; he was a missing-nin. But he was in Konoha, 'could he be an affiliate of Orochimaru?'

He went back to the wall he was leaning on and waited. Whether Sakura knew it or not, Sasori's interference had bought him the perfect opportunity to see what she was made of. Sasori was no push over, and he held tremendous power the last he'd heard, so how she was going to appease him was intriguing.

Maybe Sasori would kill her and do his job for him. Either way he was willing to wait for her return.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hello! Another chapter down and things are still not entirely out.

Just for the reference Zephyrus, the name Sakura had wanted to give Gaara was a Wind Deity (from the West) in Greek mythology who rescued Chloris (the goddess of spring) from her kidnappers and married her…..; ) foreshadowing? Me? hmmm…..

Oh and the thing about Sakura's weird smelling thing will be revealed later also smiles devilishly I'm not letting out all my secrets just yet.

Questions? Ask them.

Flames?……well……If you feel the need to, do it I guess. : (


	4. The Resemblence

**Konoha Nights**

**Gaara x Sakura**

**The Resemblance**

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

The ground was swaying beneath her feet as she took one step before the other. Each one brining a bit more blood from the wound on her stomach and she leaned on the wall for support. Sasori had definitely done a number on her. It didn't matter really, she just needed to get to her room and got to bed, tomorrow she'd be able to heal herself.

Her door was still open but when she got to the doorway she felt that she wasn't alone.

"I thought you left," she bit out wincing slightly.

He was still leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Shrugging off his silence she began making her way to the bed but somehow the floor moved from under her and she felt herself falling.

The plush carpet wasn't so bad.

She'd been here many times before. That's why she got it black; it hid the blood marks surprisingly well. The white powders however……they stood out like a sore thumb, but there were usually more quantities of blood than of drugs. She rolled her body over looking at the mirrored ceiling. She looked like shit. Plain and simple but it'd all be better tomorrow, she just needed a nap.

Trying to block out the light with her arm, rather than get up to switch it off, she found her arm wasn't too cooperative and she let out a hiss as it moved. Fucking Sasori and his damn needles, at least this time they weren't a 'high' they were sedatives. At least it would help her sleep, she rarely did and when she reached her unconsciousness REM would only torment her until she woke.

She _felt_ his footsteps rather than heard them, when the black boots were beside her head she only hoped he'd wait till tomorrow.

"You're vitals are fading." His voice was rather soothing, or maybe it was the drugs but regardless she found herself wishing he'd talk more.

"Probably."

"Will you die?" His tone was rather nonchalant, more like they were discussing the weather and not her death.

"Unfortunately, no matter how much I wish I was dead, I won't die."

Silence. She liked quiet, but right now a bit of company wouldn't hurt. Commanding her arm to drop off her face she tried to focus her eyes on him. "Your blood is black."

Did he even move his mouth? Or was it the sedatives making her have hallucinations, she didn't know but she looked down and did indeed see her blood soaking here entire torso and was covering her arms. "It's actually…..a ……deep maroon."

"What are you?"

"Damned."

His scrutinizing glare didn't faze her, but this was nothing knew to her. Hell, Itachi gave better 'go fuck yourself' looks than this.

Moments passed and neither said a word, the more she stared at him the more he morphed into another familiar face. There were differences like physical properties and personalities. But the similarities were uncanny, the hair style was the same, messy hair that looked like it was never brushed, posture that radiated 'I'm the best', distinct facial markings that led to another characteristic…….they were both containers of the buji. She'd never met any other buji other than Naruto.

"You're just like him," she half whispered.

"Like who?"

"A friend of mine."

Her head began throbbing and the man's face grew blurry, "What's your purpose in life?"

He said nothing and the room grew eerily still. Her breaths were becoming more shallow and she felt the blood start to rise in her throat. Her question was random yes, but she had to know how they compared.

"My purpose is my own business; I live only for myself."

So maybe they weren't as alike as she had thought, "I guess you're not the same after all," she coughed and felt a bit of blood in her mouth and spit it to the side, "He lives for others and his only purpose is to protect those weaker than himself."

"He's naïve to believe in such an ideal." he put in.

"Naïve…….maybe, but I wish I had a bit of his naivety sometimes."

The room kept getting colder and the sweat she'd broken into wasn't helping the chill spreading through her body, "He's the kyuubi vessel," she added.

The priceless expression on his face was humorous but if she laughed she'd probably lose more blood in the process forcing her into early consciousness.

"There are others," it sounded like a question and statement at the same time.

"Yes," didn't he know he was being sought out at this very moment? "There are nine. You too are one of them."

His foot lifted and he placed it back down on her already abused neck. "How do you know this?"

Intimidation was also not very effective tool on her so she tried to shrug to the best of her ability. "I've been around him long enough to know when I see another. Besides your chakra isn't concealed well enough."

He said nothing but lifted the foot off her throat. "You're eyes are just like his though."

"What's your fascination with my eyes anyway?" He asked pulling his mouth into a tight grim line.

"Eyes cannot hide behind words, and they tell me all I need to know about a person."

"What do mine tell you?"

Smiling gently she answered, "Your eyes say lots of things, 'fear me' 'I hate you' 'I'll kill you'…….. 'I'm alone'."

"…….."

"But they also say something else."

"And what would that be?"

"Love me," she whispered as she felt her consciousness slipping away.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Gaara looked at the woman on the floor and decided that this had been the most bizarre conversation of his life. She was obviously full of shit. Eyes only had two emotions that they could reveal, fear and hate. 'Love' wasn't even a _word_ that crossed his mind much an emotion he _felt_. Hell he was sure he'd never felt it in his entire eighteen years of life. IF, 'if' being the operative word, he loved anyone, he could say that he only cared for himself.

His interest however had been caught when she mentioned the Kyuubi, in the Sand it was only a legend that such a powerful demon existed. After the great wars of shinobi half a century ago all talk of the 'monsters' ceased. But this girl was friends with him, the nine tails existed. Another complication was added to the 'complications list' with the fact that Sasori was still live and in Konoha.

He continued to watch as her breaths became slower until finally they stopped. Maybe Sasori wasn't a complication but an asset; he'd just bought him his ticket back to Suna with a clean slate. Amaryllis had been here when he showed up so they would easily blame him for her murder.

Bending down he checked for a pulse and found none.

Sakura was dead.

NNNNNNNNNNN

AN: Is she dead? I dunno…….well I do but I'm not going to write it here, it all goes in the next chapter. Sorry if this one's short but the next is longer I promise. (I've already written it, just need to edit).

Who doesn't like Sasori? I had to throw him in there somewhere; I love him and Deiadra 'Un'. They're so cute! Sorry, anyway I'm off to start my next chapter, ask questions if you have them, or you can wait and see if I answer them next.

Itachi dropping in? Hm……


	5. The Kyuubi

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku/ HinaxNaru**

**The Other Buji**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto, they belong to someone else.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Gaara stood back up striding out of the room and away from the dead corpse on the carpeted floor. He felt incomplete somehow that he was not the one to fulfill his mission, this would be his first. The objective had been completed but not by his hand, but at least now he could go back and wait until it was time to attack Konoha.

War was where he truly belonged.

A chill spread through him suddenly, and then he felt a pulse from within him. Turning back around he saw the pink haired woman being consumed in a green chakra before fading away again. But that was not the most surprising thing, she was breathing.

She was alive.

Questions were swarming through his mind faster than he could even think to answer them. Was this what she was talking about? Is this why she was an S-Class mission because she was prone to regeneration? His thoughts were cut short when he felt heavy foot steps running down the hall. The door that was still half open was thrown against the wall knocking it completely off its hinges.

It was a man with blonde hair wearing a familiar horrid shade of orange pants and a black shirt. The leaf hiate was prominent on his forehead. He paid Gaara no mind as he ran straight for the girl checking he pulse then swooping her up and taking her to the bed.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan you have to wake up." His words were half between whisper and plea as he gently slapped the woman in hopes of waking her. "Sakura-chan your blood smells through this whole building, what happened?"

This was true; the first thing Gaara had noticed when she was returning back to the room was her scent of blood. There were large amounts of it; the hall way was probably covered in it from her way here. Thankfully the Shukaku was not agitated or bored, otherwise he would have tried to make him absorb some of it in the sand, or worse go into a killing spree.

The shinobi quickly took out a kunai and slipped it into her already ripped mesh shirt and cut it into two pieces, leaving the black bindings. With all the blood that covered her it was difficult to see the wound, but he could distinctly see four, they were all deep and still bleeding. "Shit," the other cursed.

Gaara watched as the man rapidly ran towards the drawers and from the bottom one pulled out bandages and other medical supplies with familiarlarity. With a few rags he managed to wipe off the blood and did a fairly decent job at bandaging them tightly enough to stop the bleeding. "Damnit Sakura-chan, why do you let them do this to you?" he asked as he brushed back the hair away from her face.

When he'd first heard of this mission and seen the pictures of her supposed parents, he'd conjured up a picture in his mind of what their child should look like and what traits she might have in order to spot her easily if the mission needed to be changed. When he first met her he'd admitted that he was off by a long shot. Just how in the hell do people with black and blonde hair have a child with long strands of pink? It made no sense; her eye color wasn't even close to the other two. If he had doubts that she had been his target though, they were thrown away when she somehow brought herself back to life. She had died. He was sure of it. He'd witnessed countless of deaths and he could recognize any of them and she had definitely died. So how was it that she was here, breathing and stirring under the other man's caresses?

The shinobi must have realized the other presence now that his 'friend' was no longer in immediate danger and looked back up to him. "So you're him." It was a rhetorical statement and Gaara chose not to answer, frankly because he had no idea what the hell he was talking about. He the assassin? He from the one from Sunakagure? He her client? The list was endless.

"Hinata told me about you," he added after a while.

"Hinata." The name was not the same one the girl had earlier, but the orange was unmistakable. Besides, she'd been the only one who'd really had a chance to study him.

"Yeah, she works here. Sakura-chan's looking out for her. Anyway, she told me that you're a buji container just like me." His words were becoming friendlier as they left his mouth and the last part sounded like it was the best news he'd ever heard.

"So which one are you?" he asked eyes widened and ready for an answer.

He'd been told to never reveal such information countless times, he was the trump card his father used, and if other villages found out about him they would surely attack. But then again, he'd also been told that there were no other buji, they'd all been killed long ago and that the nine tails was only a myth. The Kazekage lied to him often, and Gaara had no trust in him, but to be able to hide such a secret was starting to tick him off. They would have a nice chat the next time he saw him.

"I have the Shukaku."

The blonde lit up considerably, "Really? Cool, I never knew about you. So I guess that they don't have everyone yet."

"They?"

"Yeah, you know, Akatsuki's trying to collect all of the biji so-

The woman beside him on the bed had stirred more and had now wrapped her arms around the other's waist who was trying to remain seated and not be pulled down. She winced slightly at the movement, "Sasuke."

The color drained from the man's face as she continued to call out Sasuke's name in her sleep. The information he'd been given never stated if his target and the new vessel had any known each other, but the emotion in her voice confirmed that they had.

"Sasuke, I'm……..I'm so sorry."

He shook her shoulder slightly, "Damnit Sakura-chan, don't ask for that bastard."

"Sasuke."

Her mantra was become softer and the man gave up on trying to wake her and detached himself from her and got off the bed.

"Sasuke?" Gaara asked curious to see if this man would reveal any valuable information or just lie.

After a long silence he began speaking eyes downcast, "Sasuke was a childhood friend of ours. We were family."

He looked back toward the bed, "But when you're young sometimes you see only what you want to see and not what's really going on underneath it all. And when lies were revealed the shit hit the fan and we lost someone important to us."

His fists were clenched and Gaara could distinctly feel chakra pouring into the room from his body, "But one day, I'm going to see that bastard again. And I'm going to beat the shit out of him for what he did to Sakura-chan and then I'm going to make him come back and cut his ties to the asshole that manipulated us."

The woman on the bed grunted and rolled to her other side. Her back now contained a tattoo that had not been on her earlier. The black mamba started at her shoulder and curved twice, hiding briefly under the black bra strap and bandages before the tail disappeared under her shorts. The entire body of it looked alive and he was he could see the detail of the scales and the crimson eyes looked almost real with its mouth open ready to attack.

Besides the tattoo and bandages she was also showered in scars. Not one looked like the other, all different lengths and patterns. Some looked like whips while others just looked like someone had tried to carve out a picture. They were all faint and showed that they all healed properly or were had been stitched well.

A loud blast was heard from downstairs and the building shook with it.

"Fuck," the other cursed quickly wrapping her in a blanket. "You have to get her out of here," he said carrying her once again and taking her to him.

"What?" He asked in a neutral tone, still not taking the woman.

"Don't give me that look, there are at least two Akatsuki members downstairs and they're headed this way, you have to get her out of here or they'll take her."

"I wouldn't know where to take her," he reasoned. But the blonde only shook his head feverously. He told him her address before pushing her to him.

"Now go, hell if they know who you are there's no way I can stop them from getting both of you. So please take her home and I'll be there shortly."

"You can take on two members of Akatsuki?"

He grinned, "Of course I can! After all I _am_ going to be the next Hokage," he said before running out of the room.

The next Hokage, he'd said. The pieces started clicking in place. He was his target's friend that she compared him to, and he was the same one that had contracted Sunakagure to help. Why would they hire him to kill someone he cares for? He'd have to ponder that later.

Various loud noises from downstairs told him of the situation and he began his way out the window, it was then he remembered he was holding someone. He looked down at her as he flew over the tops of the building to the address he'd been given. Foreign emotions exalted him; this was the first time he'd ever held anyone in such a way.

Even when he had to relocate dead bodies he always used his sand to touch them. It killed two birds with one stone, the buji got his taste of blood and he didn't have to come in contact with anyone. And now here he was with a self reviving woman in his clutches taking her home away from danger. If he didn't know better he'd say he was actually looking out for someone else.

What was more offsetting was why his sand hadn't reacted and stopped the man from pushing her to him. His sand armor had always protected him from any unwanted contact as well as weapons and attacks. But it hadn't even stirred, even now it didn't react.

If anything it hummed.

Meanwhile the Shukaku from within was filling his head with the possibilities that were now available to him, and not one of them wanted her blood.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Her apartment was rather easy to find. He'd studied various maps of Konoha on his way here and this part of town was under the Akatsuki jurisdiction. The streets contained few people, and those were shady characters standing on street corners in groups of two or three, they would probably be leaving soon, sunrise was in an hour. He jumped to her balcony avoiding anyone that may have been in the apartment hallways.

The double glass doors slid open with no resistance; no lock was on them, no traps set. She was practically begging to get robbed, but looking around he saw she had nothing worth taking. The double glass doors opened into the living area that only contained an old beat up recliner and coffee table. He passed the kitchen on his way to the hallway and it too was bare. He opened the only door in the whole place and found her bedroom. So far the entire apartment was the polar opposite of where she worked, while everything there was black everything here was white or wooden. Walking over to the bed with only a rumpled sheet thrown over it he laid her down on top of it. Not _too_ gently.

Shukaku scoffed.

The bedroom had a fairly large window with no curtains. Looking down at the street below he could see that the small groups at the corners were indeed dispersing laughing with each other as they did so. Moving to the side of the window he leaned against it wondering why in the hell he'd agreed to do what the kyuubi vessel had asked of him, so easily.

XXXXXXXXX

He mediated as he waited for the return of the blonde shinobi. He had questions and he wanted answers immediately. So far the woman's condition had only improved as she continued to turn occasionally, but no longer asked for Sasuke.

A half an hour later he felt a presence looming nearby, circling overhead before finally resorting to the front door. First thinking it was the kyuubi he only resumed meditation, but after continuing he felt someone poking their chakra through the entire apartment as if performing a search. This was not the buji vessel.

He quickly opened the window as he heard the front door easily open. Jumping from the third story apartment he leapt upwards to the roof and then to the building across. Lowering himself in what was left of the shadows he quickly preformed his third eye jutsu and sent it back to observe from a closer distance.

The man who had entered the room wore a black floor-length robe with red clouds embroidered into it. Although the collar could cover his entire face it was left open, revealing a familiar face. He looked like an older version of the Uchiha that was under Orochimaru's command. He'd only read about the other surviving son of the Uchiha massacre, the one who had murdered his entire clan, Uchiha Itachi.

He shook her shoulder more violently than the other had and slapped her hard across the face. She stirred slightly until finally looking up at the man that now had her clutched by her upper arms in the air. "Itachi," she breathed her head rolling back slightly as her eyes struggled to stay open. "What can I do for you? I'm…..afraid that I can't……be much fun today…….Sasori kind of rescheduled his monthly appointment."

He threw her against the wall her head making viscous contact with the wall. "I heard that you tried to refuse him," humor hanging from his words.

She looked up smiling at the man from her haggard position on the floor, "I had another client Itachi, you know that I can't be going out of my way just so that he can get his fucking fix."

"Who was your client?"

"He was the same as any other, just another man than likes a bit of violence with his sex and has lots of money to get it."

The man stepped forward pulling her up by her hair and then pressing the length of his body against hers to hold her up. "Don't worry, cherry blossom, you'll be put out of your misery soon enough."

His Sharingan eyes morphed into an unfamiliar pattern and he gripped her neck tightly forcing her to look into her eyes. "But I don't think that you've earned your death quite yet."

It all happened so suddenly he didn't even know what really occurred. One minute he was holding her up the next she was on the floor with her eyes open in terror. He calmly stepped over her body and out of the room.

A few minutes later she struggled to sit up, the look of fear gone only to be replaced with pain. Her shoulders began shaking and she started to pound the carpeted floor with her fist. He assumed she as crying, there were only a few people he'd actually seen cry, and even then they were tears of fear, not sadness. But when she looked up towards the window he saw no tears but she was sobbing. Was it possible to cry with no tears?

Her anguish quickly turned into fury and she stood up and walked towards her bed and flipped it over before going to her end table, the only other piece of furniture in her room and picking it up throwing it against the wall, instantly shattering it to splinters, the wall plaster cracking also. This was probably why she had no to other furniture he mused. Her strength was impressive, it was not a natural kind of strength, it was one attained by using controlled amounts of chakra.

Her rant died down soon and she opened one of the three doors into her room and stepped through. The sun was rising and he'd need cover soon, deciding that that her friend would most likely still drop by he headed back to the apartment. Running water was heard from the door she disappeared through and he continued inside and found no trace of the Uchiha.

Stepping over the debri of end table he noticed a brown leathered book that had been hidden under her bed. It was worn, the latch barely held it together, the pages were slightly discolored.

He flipped it open to find the first few pages were blank. He went to the back of the book and found it contained entries from five years ago. Tucking it into his jacket he heard the front door being closed and the familiar thudding of feet running through the house.

The kyuubi had returned.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Wow, another one bites the dust. Maybe summer classes were a good thing for me after all. : ).

Notes: Well I really don't have any; you're just going to have to trust me that this IS going somewhere. It's just going to take a little while.

We find out a bit more on where Sakura's been in the next chapter.

Questions? Ask away.


	6. The Rosary

**Konoha Nights**

**Chapter 6/ The Rosary**

**GaaxSaku NaruxHina**

The kyuubi vessel ran in looking rather ragged with his shirt ripped in various places as well as the hideously orange pants. He was breathing hard as he looked frantically for the woman who lived there. "Where's Sakura-chan?"

Gaara looked over towards the door he'd seen her go through last and the other man visibly relaxed and slouched against the wall wincing as he slid down to the floor.

"Did you deal with Akatsuki?" asked Gaara, wanting to know how well he faired against such an organization.

The blonde was easily sidetracked and spent the next few minutes filling him in on how he managed to beat up on 'shark face' and then take out 'plant man'. Whatever that meant. As he told his 'accurate' summary of what happened, started looking towards the door with suspicion, then looked around the room before jumping to his feet in an instant. "Who was here?"

The other man looked up from his mediation and answered to the best of his ability, "I believe his name is Uchiha Itachi."

"Fuck!" He cursed before throwing his hands up in the air, "Akatsuki was here?" His head snapped towards the door Sakura was behind and sniffed the air a few times before running to it trying to open it.

"Sakura-chan, open the door!"

He received no reply and he began to rip this door off its hinges as well. "Leave me alone Naruto."

The door was instantly broken and he ran into the bathroom. From where Gaara was, he couldn't see into the room exactly but he could hear the curses sprouting from the man's mouth. "Hey…..man…..What's his name Sakura-chan….?"

There was struggle on the other side but she didn't answer him.

"Listen could you come in here I need your help- Sakura-chan stop!"

This would be the second time in one night that this shinobi was asking favors of him and just like before he couldn't stop himself from walking into the room. He expected to walk in on an emotional girl still under the effects from whatever jutsu the Uchiha had used on her earlier, he never expected to be walking in on more dark colored blood cloaking the tile floor or the woman to be wrestling weakly with the nine tails over a blade.

Out of nowhere, she landed a solid punch to his cheek and he flew back into the plaster wall behind him, and Gaara saw the momentary disorientation followed by a stunned one as he rubbed his jaw. Immediately she stuck out her arm and began where she left off slicing in straight lines blood flowing thickly onto her pale skin. Tears were coming out of her eyes, but she was not crying. It was probably her body's natural way of responding to the pain but her eyes looked to far gone to have felt it. Her eyes themselves where not her own, they were instead a bright crimson with the pupils as black slits, the white part now black.

The cuts she was making started on her ankles up her thighs until jumping to her arms. It was baffling to watch another creature physically harming themselves on purpose. Humans and creatures alike were engineered to avoid pain, and here she sat a heap on the cold floor trying to cut herself as deep as she could, succeeding a few times by reaching her bone with the chakra infused kunai.

He knew it was morbid, and yet he could not tear his eyes away. Grown men would have been wailing like children from just one of those gashes and she only grimaced occasionally. What was she trying to achieve? What _could_ she gain by mutilating herself in such a way and be bordering unconsciousness? She didn't have a shield of protection, she should biologically be able to feel pain, so what exactly was she trying to prove?

He stood in front of her, careful to avoid the blood on the floor and the blade stopped mid cut. She looked up at him, her crimson eyes studying him with weariness before finally changing to the emerald they were. The kunai made a cling as it hit the tile and she fell forwards onto his legs, her body limp once again.

The dual minds clashed inside as the Shukaku begged for her death and the other just wanted her the hell off. His _saner_ psyche won out and he reached down, grabbing her by the upper arm where she hadn't managed to cut and hoisted her over his shoulder. He would not make the same mistake of carrying her in the same fashion as before. Making his way back to the bedroom he saw the other man rise to his feet also, cursing about having to clean up the blood. He put the mattress back on the metal frame and Gaara deposited her on the bed, while the blonde made a face.

The nerve. He didn't make a habit of personal contact and he'd already forced himself to touch this one twice. What more did he want? He was not about to pamper her the way he did.

Gaara watched as he located the white sheet and wrapped it around her with a tenderness he shouldn't have had considering she'd just knocked him a good one. He walked out quietly to the kitchen with Gaara close behind. Finding a small kettle and the only two mismatched cups, he began making tea. He was silent all the while and his sullen expression did little to hide what he felt.

The man poured both cups offering one to him, Gaara took it but didn't drink.

"So you're the Shukaku…..nice to meet you man," The blonde-haired man put his empty cup down smiling "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be the next Hokage! What's your name?"

Gaara felt so many levels of confusion as the man went from sullen to energetic and….. friendly? Uzumaki was probably suffering mental instability from the kyuubi inside, he deducted.

"I am Gaara no Sabakuno," he told him.

"Cool! Well Gaara, how long have you been a friend of Sakura-chan's? I mean I haven't been by to see her for a while; I've been kinda busy with-

"I'm not her-

"How long have you been in Konoha?" he changed the subject again.

"Two days."

"Great, well hey listen, I don't know what business you have exactly with Sakura-chan, but Akatsuki's going to be patrolling her apartment for a while so it's probably best if you go back to where you're from," Naruto said his voice slightly less chipper.

"I don't run from anyone," He shot back putting the cup back on the counter.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well….I didn't mean _run_ from them it's just that if they find out who you are," he hesitated, "If you stay around Sakura-chan they'll figure it out sooner than later and it's probably best if you go back into hiding."

"I do not _hide_," Gaara seethed crossing his arms trying to contain the anger he felt like unleashing. He was no coward; if he had someone after him then he would just fight them.

"Neh neh, I didn't mean it like that! It's just that…..well……Akatsuki's got five of the tailed demons already and I know they were having a hard time locating you and the two tails. If Sakura-chan suddenly has a new friend-

"I'm _not_ her-

"Then they'll do some investigating to figure out who you are. And if they find you then they're only one more short."

One? His brow crinkled, "You said they don't know where the two tails is," he began.

"Right." Naruto nodded.

"There are two of us, so what other are they missing?"

His face fell and he clenched his fists before replying tightly, "The Hachibi, the eight tailed snake."

"……"

Sakura's voice floated into the kitchen as she called out for Naruto. He obliging ran back to her room. She was already sitting up clutching her head, half embraced by Naruto, when Gaara had entered. The white blood stained sheet lay on the floor forgotten.

"Sakura-chan, its okay, whatever that Itachi bastard showed you it's not true," he murmured comfortingly.

The grip she had on his shirt tightened and Gaara wondered if she was trying to push him away or pull him closer. "But it is the truth Naruto, I betrayed him," she whispered.

"Sakura-chan, please, just let it go. Itachi lied to you; we _will_ get Sasuke back no matter what."

She snorted before closing her eyes. The self-made lacerations on her legs were closing as he watched the green chakra visible in each one until finally the last one on her wrist. She pushed him away with a shaky hand before attempting to stand up. The other held her shoulders down shaking his head.

Watching them Gaara began to wonder what kind of insane relationship the two shared. No matter how much Sakura pushed away kyuubi continued to come back and try to help her. If he was who he said he was, then the most powerful of the bujii, had been reduced to being the pitiful friend of a woman who didn't want his efforts.

How could he be the kyuubi of legend when he was here in a rundown apartment looking after a suicidal, demented, and the most obscure woman he had ever met? Why was he here petting her and trying to comfort her when if he really wanted, he could unleash his sealed demon and take Konoha back by force……reducing it rubble if he chose?

Instead,…..he wanted to be the Hokage.

Naruto had found the misplaced sheet and wrapped it around her she grabbed his wrist when he tried to get up, "Let me heal your wounds."

He looked down at his stomach and what was once a gash was now only a minor cut. "Don't worry about his little thing Sakura-chan, I can get Hinata to heal it for me."

"Where is she?" she asked wrapping the sheet around her legs as well.

"She's fine; Tenten took good care of her. I told her to take Hinata to our apartment and I'd be there tomorrow."

"You should go to her soon; she's probably upset you're not home yet." Her green infused chakra hand reached out to his stomach anyway and he caught her wrist, "I told you its okay, it's already healed see? It's only a little scar."

She hit his hand out of the way placing hers on his stomach, "I know that…….. but I have enough scars for the both of us."

His eyes softened at her words and he said nothing only watched as she did indeed heal the skin with no scar, neglecting to heal the many that now adorned her skin. "You should get some sleep Sakura-chan."

She ignored his request instead looked over her shoulder to see Gaara standing where he'd been earlier that night. "I see you're still here," she said smiling slightly. "I must apologize I usually don't sleep on the job."

He said nothing and she turned back to her friend on the edge of the bed. "Naruto, you really should get going, I don't want Hinata stressing out for anything, remember stress is bad for expectant mothers."

He shrugged, "Well if they're doctor's orders-

"They are," she interrupted.

"Then I'll get going," he finished, standing up kissing her forehead in the process, "But you're still going to come tomorrow right?"

Her shoulders hunched, "What _time_ is it at again?" she whined.

"Sakura-chan! How could you forget! I told you, it's at 6 o'clock."

"Fine," she waved her hand dismissively, "fine, I'll go but I'm not promising to be dressed up or anything…..God Naruto you know I don't wake up before midnight."

He laughed and reached down and gave her a tight hug, "Yeah but you're my best friend you _have _to be there for my wedding!"

"Alright," she managed, "But let go of me I can't even breathe!"

He released her chuckling, "Okay, but you can't wear any black."

"Naruto you _know_ I don't _own_ anything other than black."

"That's not true Sakura-chan," he said in his sing song voice, "You have that kimono that Hinata bought for you last year."

She curled her lip, "But it's _pink_."

"It'll look beautiful on you! You haven't even worn it once!"

She sighed deeply, "There's a reason for that…..I'll _think _about it."

"Thanks, I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Hinata to see her sensei wearing something she picked out," He admitted, "Oh and hey don't forget to bring Gaara along!"

"Gaara?" she asked brows furrowed.

"Yeah you know," he pointed to the man behind her, "him."

She turned to the man in question, "Gaara huh….. that's an interesting name," she replied giving him a humored look, "So _Gaara_," she said curling the r a bit more than she should have, "You up for an Uzumaki wedding?"

A what?

Surely they weren't implying that he should go to such a ridiculous ceremony where people would pledge their undying love for each other. "I don't go to weddings," he replied coolly crossing his arms tighter.

Naruto beat Sakura to whatever she was going to say, "Well then you _have_ to come if you've never been before."

"I decline your invitation," he tried again, trying not to complicate matters with the kyuubi, he was currently his only source of information considering how well he offered it.

He'd never seen a grown man pout before, but the man named Naruto was indeed pouting. "But…..it's my wedding! My wedding for God's sake I'm suppose to be _completely_ happy on my wedding day and I can't be enjoying it if I know that Sakura-chan's going to have to leave early to go see you!" he reasoned.

"Then I won't stop by tomorrow."

Naruto snapped back, "Ha! The last thing I wanna hear is Shizune bitching about having to redo her precious schedules. So let's see," he crossed his arms, rubbing his chin and let out the occasional 'hmm'.

Gaara looked towards the woman on the bed who was trying to hide her grin under the sheet. "Tell your friend that I will not be cohered into attending a wedding ceremony."

Her cheeks rose a little higher alluding she was smiling wider now and then a loud "AH HA!" was heard from the other.

"You have to go because it's going to be the safest most guarded place in Konoha! Neither Akatsuki nor Orochimaru will be anywhere near. And that way I don't have to worry about either of you on my wedding day." He looked entirely too proud of his idea, "Man I'm a genius."

"I do not need any protection from Akatsuki, as you said earlier, it'll still take them a while to learn who I am, by then I will already be back in my country. Besides, if anything should happen I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

"What country are you from?" Naruto asked plopping back down on the bed next to Sakura.

"He's from the Sand," she put in lowering the sheet to reveal her face again.

Naruto punched his fist into the palm of his hand, "I got it! If you do me this favor of coming to my wedding then I can show you around Konoha."

"I do not need your help with navigating my way through your city," he tossed back. But the other was not to be deterred.

"Hmm…..well…..you're from the sand.. just got here two days ago, new to the city," Gaara ignored whatever else was coming from his mouth. Hadn't he ever heard of thinking to himself?

"Sakura-chan have there been anymore visitors enter Konoha from other countries within the last week?"

"According to Neji's records, there was only a traveler from the Suna and a merchant from the Mist, neither with shinobi backgrounds," she answered professionally.

"Then you _must_ be him!" he shouted pointing accusingly at Gaara.

"Must be who?" Humor laced in her tone as she eyes the man against the wall.

"The one that the Kazekage said he'd send to help with our situation, you remember the one that you told me-," a swift elbow to his ribs stopped all communication.

"So are you this person that Naruto and Jiraiya sent out for?" she asked oblivious to her jerky elbow.

"That is not of your concern."

"But you didn't answer our question," Naruto gasped out.

"I'm not allowed to discuss any of my missions," it was bullshit really. He could have if he wanted to but these two were interfering with his personal zone more than anyone ever dared to. Hell he was sure this was a record for the longest conversation he ever held without any form of interrogation.

"So you are him! They sent you sooner than I thought they would….." he trailed off, "Well, then you _have_ to come because Ero-sennin is going to be there and he can give you any information you might need." The look of victory was on his face as he watched Gaara anxiously as if daring him to refuse him again.

"Who?"

"He means to say Jiraiya-san, God Naruto you have no respect for he elderly," Sakura lectured slapping the back of his head.

"Yeah that pervert, he'll be there and I'm sure he'll give you any kind of information, that's not classified. Give him one bottle of sake and he'll talk your head off I promise," he said pleadingly.

Any information he needed. What kind of information could this Jiraiya person possibly offer him that he couldn't attain on his own. After all his target was in the room with him. Things weren't adding up……the Kazekage said that Jiraiya and his pupil had requested they send their most capable assassin to Konoha to kill the pink haired woman that could become a key player in Orochimaru's immortality trip. But that couldn't be right, from what he'd seen tonight Naruto was fiercely protective of her. Was he only pretending?

No, he couldn't be, everything he did was genuine, no lie behind anything.

So that meant one of two things.

Jiraiya had secretly requested the assassination.

Or that the Kazekage was taking matters into his own hands.

Either was plausible. But only one pissed him off.

"How would you explain me to your guests?"

Sakura's eyebrows lifted and Naruto did a 'victory' sign with his fingers. "Oh don't worry about that, I'll just tell them the truth. You are my new friend from the Sand who is visiting Sakura-chan for a while. No biggie."

Friend? He truly was insane. "Alright then, I will attend your ceremony."

"That's great! I knew you'd come around." He stood up hugging Sakura again before making his way out the bedroom door, "I'll see you two tomorrow at 6 and don't be late Sakura-chan!"

The front door slammed and Sakura winced, "Damn I better not have to replace my door again."

"Is Uzumaki always so….

"Overbearing? Loud? Chatty?" she supplied.

"Trusting," he answered.

"Trusting?"

"He just invited a stranger to his wedding. A wedding that will have some of Konoha's oldest families in attendance, if I had any ulterior motives he would have just put them all at risk," he justified.

She unwrapped the sheet and got off the bed, "Naruto may be trusting, but he's also pretty good at judging a person when he first meets them." Digging in the top drawer, she pulled out some scissors and more clothes. "So if he invited you it's because he wants you to be there. Besides you won't have to worry about the clans being there."

"The girl is Hyuuga," he pointed out.

She sighed as she sat on the bed looking out the window. "Hinata is not Hyuuga, according to Konoha records she is Hinata Hatake….. my younger sister."

"Her Byakugan says otherwise."

"It's a really long story Gaara and the sun is rising…. Don't you need to get some sleep?" she asked never tearing her eyes away from the window.

"I don't sleep."

She glanced back over to him, "Never?"

"No."

"Alight then…..but if I bore you it was your own fault."

"……"

She sighed deeply, "Well, when I first came to Konoha five years ago I was under the care of my new guardian Shizune. She was a privately hired medical nin that lived in the Hyuuga compound, apparently their training sessions were a bit intense." Looking back down at her supplies, she took the scissors and began snipping away at the tape Naruto had gone overboard with. "Anyway, while she tended to the main family I was in charge of the branch household which was mainly just Neji, the head of the branch."

"Around three years ago, Orochimaru's control was slipping on a certain district so he went after the strongest Clan family there, which is the Hyuuga, and had him assassinated. When it came time to appoint the person to take his place there was dispute that Hinata was not who the late Hyuuga had intended to leave the job to, but instead her younger sister Hanabi."

She left the top bandage in place and instead cut the one around her upper left hip. "But, like all true Hyuuga, they were so adamant about tradition they refused to give Hanabi the position at such a young age even though she was far more skilled than her sister. Their reason was that as long as the eldest daughter was alive, it was her 'fate' to take up the position."

Pulling the gauze off the tape came off smoothly and she tossed it to the ground. A small white line matched the size of a normal kunai blade. "Naturally, it didn't take long for some members who disliked Hinata to come up with a way to eliminate her. However, one of the elders suggested that she just be exiled. The only problem was that the Byakugan is something that is coveted by many and with Hinata as weak as she was she could wind up captured. Finding someone that could both protect and hide her was going to be difficult, so Neji asked me to take her with me when I left the compound."

She worked off two more bandages wiping at the sticky residue they left on her stomach. "I left that same night with Hinata who had been stripped of her title as well as her last name. Neji gave me official records from Konoha that stated that Hinata was now my younger sister. It wasn't bad actually, she was quiet and kept to herself so she wasn't much trouble. I taught her a concealment spell for her eyes so hardly anyone gave her a second glance."

"I saw through her spell," he calmly stated.

"If you saw through the concealment spell it was because she wanted you too," she waved her hand dismissively, "Don't try to understand her, sometimes she's just as bad as Naruto."

Fighting the last bandage at the top she pulled it off roughly loosening the bra enough so that a necklace fell from it. "The only one who ever noticed her was Naruto, and then things sort of went downhill from there."

She tossed the last bandage along with the others before picking them all up and disposing of them in the bathroom the necklace still on the ivory mattress.

"Neji ended up marrying Hanabi and uniting the clans," she spoke from the bathroom before walking out. "So to everyone but Neji, Hinata is dead to the clan."

"Why would you agree to take on such a burden?"

She sat on the bed picking up the necklace, "Neji just offered me some things that I couldn't say no to."

Looking closely at the necklace she twiddled in her fingers he noticed they were obsidian beads linked together with small chains……He'd seen those before but mostly on monks. A rosary. "Are you religious?" He asked tonelessly.

Her bitter laugh filled the room and she continued to play with the beads. "Hardly. I don't believe in a God or many Gods…..whatever. It's all the same, people trying to explain things they don't understand and clinging to a false hope that they will live forever once they die."

"….."

"No, these aren't mine they belonged to my first guardian Hatake Kakashi," she said as she stared at the beads in her hand.

"You took his last name."

Another small smile made its way on her pale face, "I didn't have a last name, so I felt that it was the only way I could honor his death."

He said nothing as she slipped the beads over her head and gathered the fresh clothes to her arms. "I must apologize for tonight, things usually aren't so chaotic but there's a lot of movement going on in the organizations so tempers tend to fly." She stood up and walked towards the bathroom the mamba on her back seemed to sway with each step until it disappeared.

"Why do you conceal your tattoo?" He didn't know why he asked, it seemed more like a slip of the tongue, he had not got the chance to mediate properly.

She turned back towards him, "Oh, I didn't even realize I'd done it. It's mostly just a habit now; no one really likes it so I just conceal it to avoid uneasiness around me."

He nodded once to show his understanding. "What about yours?" she asked.

"It's required that when I leave my village I conceal it."

"Ah," she said making her way back towards him until she stood only inches away. Her hand reached out to his 'ai' and she watched him closely waiting for him to tell her to stop. And he was going to until her fingertips brushed a few hairs away from the tattoo. The Shukaku stirred from the warmth her touch brought.

"When you're with me can you please not conceal it?"

"Why?" he asked. Even in Suna his tattoo was viewed as a curse only proving that he was indeed a monster. A monster that was only capable of loving himself.

She brushed over the kanji once more before pulling her hand away. "I just think that we're already hiding enough between us."

He didn't know exactly what she was talking about. His lies? Hers? Or probably both. Either way he had no way of stopping his next statement, "Then don't hide yours either."

She grinned at him, the pinks and oranges from the rising sun giving her pale complexion more of a healthier glow, before stepping back slightly, "Alright then." Clutching the clothes to her she went back towards the bathroom. "I need to clean off a bit, will you still be here when I get out?"

"I have things I need to tend to."

She came back out of the bathroom with no clothes, "Okay, what inn are you staying at?"

"I believe it's called the Nara," he told her truthfully.

"What a coincidence, I know the family that owns that." Something told Gaara it was no coincidence. "I'll swing by there around five thirty to get you for the wedding."

He dreaded having to go to such a ridiculous affair and he hoped no one ever found out he'd gone….even if it was for the sake of information. Her voice cut through his loathing of ceremonies altogether.

"I know it's going to be horrible, and I wouldn't want to go to one of those either, but I promise that if we're not there on time Naruto will send out a search party," she said humorously. "So five thirty?"

He nodded again and she flashed him a smile, "I'll try to sneak us out as soon as possible," she tossed back as she turned into the bathroom not even bothering to shut her door. The sound of the pipes working groaned and water was heard filling the tub. Slipping through the double glass doors, he jumped up to the rooftop he had occupied earlier that night and dispelled his third eye. Letting it hover close to her apartment he left.

_SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS_

Okay, don't kill me. I had to literally drag myself through this chapter so I apologize profusely if it sucks. : ( I also couldn't stop writing it and going back and changing the whole damn thing so that's why it took so long to get out.

As for the cutting, sorry if this offends you. Yes I have had someone close to me cut themselves and they almost died. She's better now but I swear it was scary sometimes.

The no god part, sorry about that too. But it just fits her character better and right now I just see her as someone with no hope and for some, through religion they find their hope. See the connection?

Yes I will elaborate later on the Kakashi thing. I promise, I love him!

OH and I got a review asking me about Sasori. YES I know that he is a puppet…. and even though this is an AU, he's still a puppet in my story. After reading the manga with Sasori in it, I got the impression that he was just really curious and taken by Sakura that he would want to have a weird sick relationship with her. Or make her into one of his puppets. As far as 'fucking' Sakura, I'm not saying he did : )

Thank you so much for the reviews! They keep me going!

Next chapter: The Wedding! It's about 75 complete so I just have to finish and edit! Neji makes an appearance : ) God I sound like a crappy advertisement commercial.

Ja.


	7. The Wedding

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku HinaxNaru NejixTen**

**The Wedding**

**Disclaimer: They don't belong to me!**

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Gaara effortlessly landed in his bedroom and found that Temari's summon was sitting on his bed patiently. Taking out the parchment from the pouch, he glanced over her encrypted message.

_Shizune- the late apprentice of Tsunade. Kunoichi of great tactics and specialized in poisons. Cell team consisted of Asuma and Kurenai. Disappeared along with Tsunade 18 years ago. Presumed dead._

Idiots. Shizune wasn't dead but in fact in Konoha. Surely the spies of Suna weren't this misinformed, although to their credit a brothel, located above a flower shop in the central part of a city, would be the last place to look for a missing kunoichi.

_Mission status has been reported to the kage. _The penmanship changed slightly although it was still coded it had more of a feminine touch. _Baki has not reported. Missing. Kankuro has volunteered to retrieve him._

Why Temari thought he should know what Kankuro was up to was beyond him but he reached for a clean paper and scribbled back his response._ I need my gourd to successfully carry out my mission. _

It seemed to be enough. He would liked to have asked Temari personally about what the Kage had planned, she wouldn't hesitate to tell him the truth. The only problem with that was that she also had a fierce loyalty to their father and would inform him of anything Gaara asked. So for now, the gourd was all he needed. After he talked to Jiraiya, he would know who was eluding information. He slipped the sheet back into the carrier and went to his pack.

Now that Uzumaki and Sakura knew where he was from there really was no point in going out of his way to dress like a civilian.

Taking out his shinobi black sandals that would help him place chakra to his feet he deposited the larger boots he wore into the trash. Picking out more clothes, he went to the side bath of this room opting for a relaxing shower instead of focusing on the day that lay ahead. The sand shield he wore fell to his feet as he stepped into the shower, the water as cold as the tap could get it. The slight fatigue he felt dissipated as soon as the needles of ice hit his form.

With both hands against the wall, he leaned his head down letting the water continue to wake his body. His thoughts drifted to the woman named Sakura. It was pure stupidity to dwell on something as simple as a touch. But the Shukaku had been stirred by it, and nothing made him stir unless it was blood, anger or the need to fight. She fit none of the criteria, so why had he felt it move within him?

Unless it hadn't been the demon.

His third eye sent a shock through him, alerting him that it was something worth watching. Closing his eyes in mediation, he concentrated and formed the necessary hand seals and saw outside her apartment.

A hawk had just landed on the sill and she walked towards in wrapped in a white towel. The bird jumped to her shoulder as she made her way inside, the eye followed keeping its distance. Taking the slip of paper tied to it's talon she reached for a pen tucked in one of the drawers.

_I highly advise you to keep a tighter leash on Sasori. Tell him I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks and that he should stay away. This goes for all of your lackeys. If I even think that one of them is trailing me or anyone that I know, I will not hesitate to end our agreement and join Orochimaru. Do not cross me again. Furthermore, if you do not heed my warning I will take the nine tails with me. You know that his loyalty to me is unrivaled. _

_I do not wish to end our agreement, so please do as I wish and I will see you in two weeks and I will hand over the eight tails. _

_Love Sakura_

Gaara could have snorted at the last part, the sarcasm and fake cheery scribble fit her. She wrapped the scrap up and slipped it back into the holster. The hawk flapped its wings eager for the flight and she released it outside of her window again. The eye watched as the hawk flew east, straight for the high tower of Akatsuki.

What in the hell was going on?

The small bit of peace the shower had restored to him was snatched away and now he was once again irritated from lack of information. Apparently, Sakura had information for Akatsuki on the whereabouts of the Hachibi. But she neglected to tell them about the one tail? Her bluff _was_ transparent when it came to Uzumaki. Gaara had only met him today but he already knew that there would be no way in hell he would ally himself with Orochimaru. Either the Akatsuki leader never met the energetic shinobi, or he was simply humoring her.

The third eye jutsu was starting to wear on his energy so he went to deactivate it when he watched Sakura drop the towel that she had wrapped around her body. He had his hand seal ready to go but he couldn't seem to say the words. His mouth went dry.

Her backside was all that was currently visible to him, but the black mamba that danced on her body as she moved entranced him. Her hair, a few shades darker, pulled into a messy bun offered no cover. The rosary she still wore and even as she dressed, he could see her occasionally toying with it. The black undergarments she slid into did even less to cover her and it wasn't until she laid on the mattress with the sheet above her that he was finally able to dispel the jutsu.

His breaths were coming out a bit more shaky than he would have liked and his fists were clenched tightly as he put more weight on them. Ignorance was bliss and right now he was ignoring everything. That included:

The Shukaku that howled with laughter.

His shaking form.

The unfamiliar warmth.

And the fact that his body was reacting in _another_ way was what he was ignoring the most.

Fuck.

The Shukaku howled again and Gaara instantly regretted the word. He hit his head against the tile shower wall trying to regain some control of his traitorous body. This was not a familiar feeling, especially on a mission.

When all the blood had returned to its proper place, he turned off the showerhead wrapping a towel around his waist. If there was one thing Gaara could ignore….it was lust.

Yes, denial truly was a beautiful thing.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Sakura entered the Nara Inn heading straight for the receptionist desk. The familiar woman saw her and ran out to hug her before she made it all the way. "Sakura, it's been so long. How are you dear?"

She patted the older woman's arm, "I'm doing great Nara-san and you?"

"Just great." She ushered her towards the desk using it to lean her arm on, "So what can I do for you Sakura?"

"Oh I just came by to pick up a friend of mine who is staying here," she said coolly fighting the urge to pull at the silk kimono that hugged her a bit to snuggly. She desperately needed to buy a new _much larger_ one.

"Really? Hmm, well let me go look at the books, what's his name?"

Sakura eye twitched as she felt the obi slip. This was why she didn't wear kimonos. They were a real bitch. "He's a traveler from Suna," she offered as she reached behind to fight with the pink obi once again.

"Oh, yes him…..He's in room 11 dear."

Nodding her thanks, she walked with more restricted movements towards the hall. The woman's laughter drifted to her and she turned back. "What is it Nara-san?"

The older woman politely covered her mouth as she laughed, "Sakura-chan you always were such a tomboy. Here let me help you with that kimono."

Sakura would have kissed her blessing in disguise until she felt the woman tighten the obi until she couldn't breathe. Maybe she would hit her instead.

"There." she said as she patted the now perfect obi. "You're ready to go."

This time she only faked a smile as she walked away from her, slower than before, this time it wasn't because of the kimono but because of the dots that were forming behind her eyes.

She stopped and made a semi turn. "How's Shika doing Nara-san?"

The older woman's smile fell slightly, "Oh you know how it is, some days I think he's doing fine and other's he just closes up again."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No it's okay, he went to cloud watching the other day so it must be a good sign."

Sakura nodded goodbye before walking away from the depressed woman at the counter. Cloud watching was something that Shika had only done with Choji. Something about him being the only person that didn't disturb him, although that was pretty hard to believe considering he was munching on chips the whole time. Door 11 came into view and she doubled her efforts to make it without ripping her kimono.

If what Nara-san was right, maybe Shika was finally starting to move from Choji's death. God knew Ino would probably never be the same.

She would have sighed but the tightened obi prohibited her from even thinking about it. Before knocking on the door, she tried in vain to look over her shoulder at the offending piece of fabric. No longer able to contain herself she reached behind her and tried to loosen the pastel pink obi from hell.

With a lot of grunting and pulling, she was getting nowhere. When someone cleared their throat she froze looking back at the door to find Gaara standing there with an amused expression. "It's not funny," she pouted in frustration.

"I thought you weren't allowed to wear black."

"It's not all black," she defended as she went back to fighting with the piece.

"A black kimono with a hint of color is still considered a black kimono." He said humorously as he contended himself with watching her struggle.

He had spoken the truth; the black kimono only had traces of pink cherry blossoms the only real color came from her obi that matched her hair perfectly. The two sticks that held her hair up jingled occasionally with her retaliation against the obi. Stomping her foot she turned back around with her arms tucked into the long sleeves of the kimono.

"You're supposed to be on my side."

"………"

Turning around so that the obi was within arms reach, she looked over her shoulder, "Could you please loosen that damn thing up I can't breathe."

She felt nothing for a while the silence of the hall was deafening. Had she gone too far? It wasn't her fault she didn't know how the hell to wear a kimono, or tie and obi for that matter. Naruto never minded helping her out…… but Naruto _was_ more like a brother to her, and they had known each other for years.

Going to pull away she felt two hands grab the fabric that shrunk her waist by inches. She could feel the warmth of his hands through the clothes she wore and she felt her breath catch at his gentleness. She felt his hands pull away from her and she snapped out of her stupor. Her breath was much easier to take in now.

She turned back to him, "Thank you so much, I'm not use to wearing such formal attire."

"Hm."

He walked back into the room and she watched as he put on a familiar black coat over his slightly more fitted black pants. The straps of leather that tied them snugger to his legs at under his knees and one on his thigh were tan like the vest-like one he wore over his long-sleeved black shirt. Coming back to the door, he closed it behind him and they began walking out of the hotel.

Linking her arm through his she felt him stiffen considerable. She half wondered if she would have to drag him the rest of the way. 30 steps later and one street across he began feeling less like a dead weight and more like a person. They walked in a comfortable silence across two more streets until Sakura stopped at a winery store.

"I have to pick something up," she told him before disappearing into the somewhat isolated store. She returned minutes later with a wine bottle wrapped in white silk and a sting of pearls. Practically skipping to him, she held it up for him to inspect her find.

"I ordered it when I found out Hinata was pregnant," she told him as she tucked it to her torso and linked her arm again around his. "I had thought it was going to be a girl so I had the pearls added, but I guess Hinata can just keep them."

"Uzumaki's having a boy?" Pleasant conversation was starting to be easier with him.

"Yeah, but don't tell him that, then he'll never shut up," she said as she lead them into a narrow alley. Knocking on the wooden door, the peephole in the center opened revealing two familiar Hyuuga eyes. The door slid open later and the owner of the Byakugan was a man probably a few years older than both of them, with the Leaf hiate on his forehead.

"Neji," she said respectfully as she bowed somewhat.

He bowed his head in response, "Sakura-san I'm glad you could make it."

His eyes drifted towards her guest and she stopped him mid question, "He's a friend of mine and Naruto's. He was invited personally by him."

The narrowing eyes did little to effect Gaara and they were instantly in a staring match. "Neji don't you dare use your Byakugan on him."

He looked away from the guest and back towards the woman who was giving him a fierce look. "Naruto's expecting you," he said moving out of the doorway and locking it after them. Before leaving, she eyed him suspiciously, "Hey Neji?"

"Yes?"

"Why aren't you in the reception hall, I'm sure Hinata would like you to be there."

Sighing deeply he looked towards the bamboo covered fence shielding the main house.

Not liking his silence, she answered for him, "How _armed_ is she?"

"She's got two sebon in her hair, three shuriken on her torso, six kunai strapped to her thighs and small scythe in her boot."

Sakura whistled at the number, "Looks like Tenten really prepared herself for your reunion huh?"

He shot her a dirty look and she practically 'eeped'. "So…… we'll be going now," she said taking Gaara's arm, "But you really should at least make an appearance, no matter how much Tenten hates you, Hinata would be crushed if you weren't there, you're her only family."

Their boots crunched under the gravel but Neji's voice floated above it, "You know that she considers you and _her_ to be more of a family than I."

She said nothing and kept her pace next to Gaara, she really hoped that Hinata didn't consider her anything more than her sensei. Otherwise, it could make things much more difficult in the end.

After a few more twists and turns, they located the reception hall that held only a few people. Naruto was the most obvious to spot, not because of his bright hair but because of the rambunctious attitude. When he saw them enter, he quickly ditched whoever he was talking to and ran towards them in his traditional blue robes. He ran straight into her squeezing her for all she was worth, "Alright Sakura-chan! You made it and you brought Gaara!"

She regretted ever complaining about the obi, the current 'hug' she was in seemed to be twice as bad. The bottle of wine was pressed painfully against her ribs before he released her just as quickly, and he patted Gaara on the back "Thanks for coming man."

The other looked mildly irritated at the contact but said nothing. "Hey Sakura-chan, Hinata wanted you to go to her dressing room when you got here."

Looking towards the door that would lead her there she glanced back questioningly at Gaara. "Oh don't worry about him Sakura-chan! I'll go introduce him to the guys, you go to Hinata!" He laughed and Sakura didn't know what was so amusing.

"We're extracting all that alcohol you drank before the wedding," she ground out and saw through his feigned innocence.

Holding her hand up she stopped his protest, "Don't even deny it Naruto I can smell it from here."

He wiffed the air around him before breaking out into a grin, "Alright."

Shaking her head, she handed him the bottle and went to find Hinata. Chances were Tenten was there calming her nerves.

Indeed when she found them, Hinata was sitting in a chair, her lavish traditional kimono spread about her with Tenten brushing her hair.

"Whoa Hinata you look beautiful. Where'd you get the kimono?"

The younger woman smiled softly running her hand softly on the pastel lavish robes, "Um, Neji-san brought it for me."

Behind her Tenten sneered.

"It was my mother's," she finished.

"Well it's gorgeous," Sakura added and began looking around the room. "Where's Ino?"

Tenten, who had been shaking her head behind Hinata, let her shoulders sag at her question, Hinata timidly answered, "Well, she said she probably wasn't going to be able to make it." Her downcast eyes made Sakura feel like shit for even bringing it up. Stupid Ino probably just didn't want to run into Shika.

That coward.

"But she did send beautiful assortments of flowers though, right Hinata?" Tenten tried and the bride returned to her old self. "Yes she did, she sent lots of wonderful arrangements."

There was knocking outside the door, the muffled voice sounded like that of Shizune, "Hinata it's time to go Naruto's cold feet jitters are driving everyone insane."

She giggled softly into her kimono before standing, "I'm ready."

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The ceremony itself was something that Sakura wasn't looking forward to, but it went by quickly and she caught herself looking at the man beside her. He didn't _look_ bored but his eyes told her otherwise. He was probably meditating and hadn't heard a word that was said. When the reception finally got underway, Gaara disappeared a few times before mysteriously reappearing beside her without saying anything. She didn't ask, but chances were that he had gone to speak to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya himself served as an entertainment option with his loud singing and the occasional slap from Tenten for his attempts to fondle her in her black and gold Chinese style dress. Staying mostly in a corner with a few bottles of sake, Sakura was content with just watching from the sidelines. She recognized Shino, Kiba and Shika instantly as they talked at their table, wanting to stay safely away from a talkative drunk Kiba was a mission all on its own.

Neji had managed to sneak in later and gave Hinata a courteous congratulations, she could see her tear up from the other end of the room. They spoke for a while quietly amongst themselves while Naruto harassed Jiraiya for drinking all the sake. Neji lived up to the name genius for waiting until Hinata was alone to speak to her, otherwise whatever he told her could become public knowledge.

He slipped her white box into her sleeve and her eyes widened before fresh tears fell from her face. She hugged him briefly but then Neji's eyes caught hold of Tenten, who was making her way towards them shuriken spinning on her finger, and he bowed respectfully before leaving.

Sakura sighed. If only things had been different.

"How is it that _she_ can intimidate the head of the Hyuuga Clan?"

Sakura almost spilled her drink. She hadn't even heard him return and now he sat coolly next to her with a new bottle of sake. Realizing he asked her a question, she debated her answer. "I think that's one secret I'm not allowed to tell you," she told him truthfully.

Tenten would have her head if anyone ever found out what really happened between her and Neji. And as it stood Tenten was of greater use as an ally. "And it's probably best if you never say Hyuuga around her, she tends to let her kunai slip."

Pouring the new sake into her dish served one for her 'date' as well. She was impressed that he managed to drink it all in one drink. It shouldn't have though, all shinobi were required to build up their alcohol tolerance levels in case they had to work uncover.

After finishing their new bottle, and watching Naruto and Hinata partake and all the rituals required, they made their way towards the pair to say their goodbyes. The room was already nearly empty and everyone who wasn't drunk had already left.

Naruto's eyes were a bit red and unfocused so Sakura excused them to the hallway leaving Gaara and Hinata. She extracted the alcohol from his body and gave him a small energy boost to go along with it to help fight the hang over he could have tomorrow. Naruto may not have been as obsessive with sleep like she was, but no one should have to deal with a moody Naruto.

"Thanks Sakura-chan," he told her before making their way back towards the reception.

"No problem."

When her hand reached the door, he stopped her, "Gaara's a really nice guy huh?"

There were many ways to answer that, "Yeah, I guess," just seemed to fit.

"Hmm."

"What is it?" she prodded.

He sighed deeply before hugging her, "Sakura-chan, I just want you to be happy."

"What in th-

"You know that I love you right?"

What in the hell _was_ going on. "Yeah."

"Okay, just making sure," he released her from his embrace but held her arms still, "Thank you for all that you've done for me and Hinata."

"Naruto you know that I would-

"Sakura."

"What is it?"

He said nothing but didn't release her and she began to wonder if she had somehow added alcohol to his system instead of remove it.

"Life is worth living for."

"Nar-

"Just listen," he said tightening his hold, "I know that you blame yourself for teme, but it wasn't your fault. Itachi tricked you, you were vulnerable and he took advantage of that. It _wasn't_ your fault. We'll get him back I promise."

His words hit her but she could not believe in them, not anymore. She didn't have the heart to tell him, that this was one promise he wouldn't be able to keep.

"Okay," she would appease him for now; it was after all his wedding day. And besides Naruto was as stubborn as an ox when it came to Sasuke.

"I miss him too you know."

"Yeah."

Releasing her he reached down and opened the door leading her through with on arm wrapped around her shoulder. "So do you wanna be my kid's guardian?"

Naruto had always been one for surprising people; she just never expected it to be her on the receiving end. "What? Naruto, I'm touched and all but shouldn't you find someone with maybe a…….better past and better mental history?"

A guardian? Her? Yeah right, there was no need for her to be exposed to the future leader of Konoha, there was no telling how badly he'd turn out. Not to mention that she _had_ had guardians of her own and she also learned how to tick them off in under 10 seconds flat.

Thinking back on all the things she put Anko, Kakshi and Shizune through, she _knew_ she didn't want to be anyone's guardian. Especially if there was a possibility, the kid would end up with Naruto's energy.

He chuckled squeezing her shoulder, "Sakura-chan there's no one better than you, Hinata agrees." By now that had already reached Hinata and Gaara who were shockingly talking.

Hinata turned towards them expectantly, "Sensei? Did Naruto ask you about becoming our child's guardian?"

Oh fuck.

Why did they have to call in the reinforcements? Hinata had always managed to get her way when they were younger, mostly because she didn't ask for much so when she did Sakura felt guilty and obliged her. "Hinata, I just think you need to consider this more before you decide on me. I mean Tenten would love to do this."

Yeah right, Tenten would have that baby throwing shuriken from his highchair. Ino probably wasn't a better choice, little boys that arranged flowers usually got picked on. That only left Shizune, and she wasn't getting any younger. Jiraiya did not exactly scream trustworthy and Neji wouldn't be able to adopt it. Fuck, why did they have to have such a limited family?

"Sensei, we _have_ talked about it," she replied sweetly placing her hand unconsciously to her unnoticeable bulge. Naruto stood next to her practically bouncing raising his eyebrows to indicate 'so?'

"Um… well I guess I-

"Alright!" Naruto cheered grabbing Hinata and hugged her, they looked entirely too pleased. Looking for the quickest way out she saw Gaara looking at her amused again.

'Don't even say anything.' She thought hoping he got the point.

_HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

After their hasty retreat, they walked back towards the Nara Inn. Gaara hadn't even batted an eyelash when she missed the turn back to her apartment. The night was quiet and the streets long ago deserted. Their comfortable silence from earlier bled into their walk home and she still had her arm linked with his.

It was a nice change having a warm body to walk next to, well at least one that hadn't tortured her previously. The door to the inn was left unlocked and they slipped in silently. She followed him into the dark room, flipping the light switch as she went.

Sakura was shocked to find that they were not alone. Another woman was in the room, her hair pulled in four ponytails with her giant fan ready to strike. Although her posture was threatening, she looked confused as hell when she spotted Sakura.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara's voice commanded both of their attention.

"Something happened," she said shooting a look back towards the pink haired woman.

"What is it?" He didn't sound too interested in what she had to say Sakura mused. Gaara _really_ wasn't the friendly type.

"It's Kankuro," she closed the fan and slipped it back into the sash strapped around her. "We have to help him."

"You need t be more clear Temari," his irritated tone made her stiffen and she looked back at Sakura.

"Are you sure it's oka-

"Tell me or leave," was his ultimatum.

She hesitated, "It's Kankuro, do you remember where I told you he was going?"

He nodded.

"Well he was poisoned badly and I couldn't carry him back to Suna, the poison would only spread. Gaara I don't think he's going to make it," her voice was becoming more and more desperate.

"Where is he now?" he asked monotonously.

"I left him in one of the deer fields outside of the city," she worried her lip with her teeth, "There was a guy there…….he said he would watch him till I got back."

"What was his name?" Sakura's voice interrupted earning herself a dirty look from the girl.

"His name was Shikamaru," she answered.

Sakura couldn't hide the surprise, "He _told_ you his name?"

"Yeah…..what's the big deal, is he mute or something?"

She waved her hand at the thought, "No not really, it's just that Shika doesn't talk to just anyone, I can't imagine him just giving out his name to a stranger."

She smirked despite the tense situation, "Well he didn't really have a choice, I told him I would kill him if he didn't and then he mumbled something about being troublesome and then he told me his name."

Sakura would have laughed at the perfect imitation Temari had just done of Shika, but she remembered the poisoned man Shika was currently watching. "Okay, let's go, I'm pretty sure I know where Shika would take him."

Reaching towards the window, she slid the screen back before jumping out with Temari close behind. "I don't mean to be rude but-

"I can probably help your friend," she told her jumping into the towering trees Konoha was known for.

The trees continued to blur by as the three made their way towards the fields.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Ah ha! I told you this chapter was almost done : ) Hope this one was a bit better. Is it just me or are these getting longer? lol Anyway here's another one done!

Questions? Ask!

Yes I MEANT to throw in Anko to her list of guardians (caretakers) whatever : )

With the wedding over fun times are now past. In the next chapter we learn of a spy!

AN: I hope that I made it clear that in this story Neji doesn't HATE Hinata, in fact he wants to protect her…. : ) Details later…..

I'm also working on a TenTen special that tells us more about the history between Neji and her and why things are they way they are now. Probably just throw it in as a filler chapter…..lol I'm turning into the anime! Fillers are horrible!

The semester's almost over does a dance now I just hope I pass my classes…. : )

AN: I just finished the Tenten side story I wanted to do so I'll post it probably tomorrow. I have a final tomorrow I have to study for.

ALSO Chapter 8 is finished but it's majorly short. Need to edit.

And I started writing chapter 9 and ended up with a lime…… O.o don't ask me how or why I wrote it, it just came out. So now I have to go back and edit it outta there. What's policy on that anyway?

Don't want any stories deleted!

I'll probably post the lime on my mediaminer account when I finish it.


	8. The Spy

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Spy**

**AN: I posted Tenten's story yesterday on it's called A Kunoichi's Lament. 3 reviews so far, which is pretty good for me : ) so please take the time to read it. Kind of reveals a bit more on Sakura's character. **

**SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

In no time, she had navigated them to one of the Nara medical huts they had out on the deer fields. Sliding the door open, she found Shika leaning against the wall in his 'thinking' pose with a body covered in the middle of a medical array.

He looked up and looked at her incredulously as if asking 'What in the hell?'

She kneeled down beside the body checking for vitals and going into medic mode. It'd been far too long since she felt the rush of saving a life. Her time at the hospital had been so brief and she cursed Orochimaru for taking away her chance of becoming a real doctor.

Recognizing the man she knew as Crow, she pulled at his clothes to get a better look at the wound on his torso. Immediately she recognized the poison and the cut. "I'm mildly curious as to how Crow got involved with Sasori."

The woman behind her let out a gasp as she stumbled over words before giving up all together. The gash on his torso was a bit deep and would need pressure to avoid too much blood loss, she assessed and reached down to the hem of her kimono and ripped off a strip. Lifting him slightly to slip the silk around him, she tied it and checked for other major injuries. He'd put a fight against Sasori, that much was clear, but she also knew that this man was no match for him and he'd gotten off pretty good.

Infusing her hands with her chakra, she concentrated on the poison in the body. Forming her hands into a ball above his body, she contained it and then sent her chakra into his body forcing it out. There wasn't much of it, but if you weren't immune to it, it could work its course and kill you in two days.

Closing her hands around it she let it become absorbed into her body, there was no sense in wasting such a good potion; it could come in handy later. "His life is no longer in danger," she told the woman behind her and watched her fall to knees in relief.

"Shika, I'm going to need a few ingredients from your supply alright?"

Shika had released his thinking pose, listened as she told him her list, and then disappeared to fetch them. Meanwhile Temari had already made herself comfortable next to Crow on the floor who was stirring. "Thank you for saving him," she said wiping the sweat from his brow.

"It was nothing," and it was the truth. It was twisted to even think it, but in a way, Sakura was glad for the opportunity to heal people again. Especially in such a critical manner. The most she had to heal now was the occasional scratch or scrape at the flower shop, the wounds she received from her clients healed on their own.

Shika placed the ingredients in her hands and she set to work making an antidote. She knew this one by heart. The first time Sasori had injected this into her she'd gone into a coma for weeks, when she woke she extracted it from her own body and studied it, so the next time she just took the antidote and her body didn't slow down one bit. And just like with all the other poisons, her body slowly grew immune to it and then she was able to store it in certain parts of her body like her chakra reserves.

Taking the liquid back to Crow she handed it to Temari and watched as she gently made him take the contents. Sensitizing her nose was easy since the blood was already flowing quickly from the thrill of healing her patient. Breathing in deeply she easily recognized the woman's scent. It was almost the exact same as Crow's, their blood even smelled the same. Either these two spent excessively too much time together or they were siblings.

Probably the latter.

Which meant that she was also Gaara's sister.

She laughed inside, who would have thought that the Shukaku actually had a family? A sister no less. Maybe all bujii didn't grow up the same after all, maybe Gaara _hadn't _grown up feeling like a complete monster.

Crow groaned loudly before opening his eyes. "Damn my head hurts like hell."

Termari shook his shoulders, "You idiot! You almost died and all you can say is my head hurts?"

"Temari?" his unfocused eyes looked at his sibling who was attempting to shake him for all he was worth.

"Yes baka!"

"Can you please stop shaking me?"

She did, but crossed her arms angrily and stood up. Meanwhile the man looked around the hut and easily spotted the pink haired medic. "Chlorisa? Wha-…..I mean…..How did you-

"She just saved your ass baka, she's a medic-nin," Temari put in.

"Just call me Sakura," she said kneeling down and helping him lay back on the array, "Now that you're awake I can close up the wound."

The chakra jumped to her hands, she ran them over her makeshift bandage, and he continued to stare at her. "My name is Kankuro," he told her quietly now watching her hands. "Thanks."

"Eh, don't worry about it," she said dismissively, finishing the procedure. "You're going to have to rest for a couple of days. We could probably move you to another location but the Nara houses they have out here are isolated enough that you shouldn't run into any trouble."

Spotting Shika who was back in his thinking pose she asked, "Is it alright if they stay here for a few days?"

He shrugged so she took that as a yes.

"Anyway, you should be good as new by tomorrow." She helped him back into his black mesh shirt, "So what were you doing fighting against Sasori anyway?"

"I can't answer that, I'm sorry," he said looking down to his lap.

Gaara's chilly voice cut through the silence, "You should answer her question Kankuro."

His eyes widened considerably as he saw Gaara step forth from the shadows of the hut. "Gaara?"

Even if Sakura was blind and couldn't see how Kankuro trembled at the sight of his brother, she could have smelled the waves of fear and anxiety that rolled off of him. "This is Suna matter that has to be told to the Kage immediately," he tried.

"What where you doing fighting an Akatsuki member, weren't you suppose to be retrieving Baki?" he asked his voice dropped even lower.

Kankuro had by now given up trying to keep information secret from Sakura and retold how he had stumbled across another Suna-nin and followed him instead. "It was Yura. He met up with Sasori and handed over classified information."

"Sasori must have had chakra trip wires everywhere and I broke one. I tried to get the envelope back but his puppets were too great. That bastard destroyed my puppets and then stabbed me with one of his." He clenched his fist at the memory of losing his puppets.

"He told me that Yura had been a spy for him since he left Suna twenty years ago and had been feeding him information. They've known about you all along Gaara. Yura was just waiting for the perfect mission to send you to Konoha to save them the trouble of trying to infiltrate Suna."

Temari bit her finger drawing blood and smeared it on her fan. Her summon jumped out of the small puff of smoke and she began writing a coded message furiously. "I'm going to alert the Kazekage, there's no telling how many more spies we have in Suna."

"There's another," Kankuro said weakly.

"WHAT?" Temari stopped writing.

"There is reason to believe that Baki has betrayed us and allied himself with Orochimaru," he laid back down on the wooden floor. "We had a tracer on him and I watched as he managed to get all the way into the lair without restriction."

"Fuck." Temari cursed as she began writing again before dismissing her summon with the message. "Baki did jump at the chance to be the one to go to infiltrate," Kankuro reminded her.

"This is not good, the Kazekage has just lost two of his most trusting advisors, we're going to have to head back as soon as you're better to make sure he's heavily guarded."

Gaara snorted at Temari's disgusting concern for the Kage. If Yura was already here exchanging files with Sasori, that meant that the Kage was probably already dead, otherwise Temari would have been informed of the missing advisor.

She would just have to figure that out on her own.

Gaara watched as Sakura rose dusting off the imaginary particles on her kimono. "I really should get going now. I hope that everything works out for Suna Kankuro and Temari," she bowed before looking towards the quiet Leaf shinobi.

"Thanks for you help Shika."

He shrugged again and she sighed mentally. She really missed her shougi partner; he was the only one that could ever give her a _real_ challenge besides for Kakashi-sensei. Sliding open the door she was halfway out when she remembered the other occupant of the room. "Gaara?"

"I'll stop by tomorrow," he answered back quickly.

She smiled, "Great….tomorrow then."

Closing the door behind her she ran back towards the forest that would lead her back to her empty apartment. The rush she felt earlier had long ago dissipated and she for a moment wished she wouldn't be alone on such a depressing night.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Meanwhile in the hut small hut Kankuro eyed Gaara curiously and Shika excused himself leaving the three siblings alone.

"I thought you were supposed to kill her," he whispered.

"That is none of your concern; I will rectify the situation upon my discretion." He said calmly. Kankuro was actually right for once, Sakura was supposed to be dead; he had just made a slight miscalculation and needed a bit more time. "Where's my gourd?"

Kankuro winced as he fought to sit up. "Temari hid it; it's just outside of Konoha gates."

Gaara looked towards Temari and sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll go get it, but don't leave Kankuro alone."

He wouldn't respond to such a request/order. He was planning to make a stop by Sakura's tonight. Jiraiya had revealed some interesting information that he needed to get confirmation on and the sooner the better. Especially now that he could complete his mission.

"There's no point in alerting the Kage, is there?" Kankuro asked testing the mobility of his shoulder.

"Draw your own conclusions," Gaara answered closing his eyes to get some meditation in before Temari returned.

"We should probably head back tomorrow, Suna's probably in chaos right now with no Kage. There's no telling who's going to get the position, especially since the last Sibling passed and she isn't there for advising the council."

"Do as you like, my mission hasn't been completed yet so I'll stay in Konoha till I have."

Kankuro laid back on the futon, "Man that girl knows her stuff, I haven't felt this good in weeks. Kinda a shame she has to die eh?"

"……."

"So you're going to swing by her place tomorrow huh?" he tried again. "Well, there's no harm in having a bit of fun with her before you kill her."

"I suggest you stop talking," Gaara snapped back, eyes still closed.

"Whoa! I actually got a reaction out of you. She must be great in bed, is-

"You've already almost lost your life today Kankuro, don't push your luck with me because this time Sakura won't be here to heal you," he said eyes glowing with malice.

Kankuro immediately got the point opting to get some sleep instead of trying to converse with his younger brother, "You know its okay to get laid every once in a while."

A kunai landed by his head.

Sleep was looking really good right about now. Pulling the sheet up around him he let sleep consume him and he prayed Gaara didn't slit his throat during his nap.

Meanwhile Gaara was plotting Kankuro's death and how he could murder him and still get away with it. Temari entered an hour and a half later, slightly surprised Gaara was still there. She handed him the gourd and he strapped it on immediately.

"Wow I thought for sure I'd be coming back to Kankuro in pieces," she joked.

"Had you been any later and you just might have."

She visibily gulped and smiled shakily at him.

He walked out of the hut with a smirk on his face…….maybe there was something to communicating with other people after all. It seemed quite fun.

Inside Temari and Kankuro were still shaken.

Kankuro had woken as soon as Temari had opened the door, "He was joking right?" he asked looking at the still open door.

"I think I would have preferred him to _not_ be joking."

"WHAT?"

Temari turned to her brother, "Kankuro…..how often does Gaara joke around?"

Kankuro's mouth hung open, "What the hell did that medic do to Gaara!"

She shrugged, "I don't know…….but I think it's a good thing."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

heh heh, sorry it was so short, but if I didn't stop it here I wouldn't be able to stop for another 15 pages or so. I was working on chapter 9 _again;_ I'm trying to fix it to where I'm more happy with it. Really nervous about posting anything with risqué content. I've never done it before! Yikes!

But anyway, thanks to

Xinthos……I think this chapter answered your question. : ) Great guess.

Crazytreeotaku- lol as you can see I left the Tenten chapter out and just posted it separately. I too hate fillers so I couldn't bring myself to do it! I heard of having problems so I just went to mediaminer. so much easier.

LoveShiobi4eva- you rock!

SabakuNoBrandy- glade you took the risk to read it: )

Thanks for the reviews! Love them and they totally motivated me to write more!


	9. The Truth edited

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Truth About Sasuke**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing : )**

**AN: Okay before you begin reading this let me just warn you now. I wrote this several times, getting to about 10 pages before deleting it all and starting again. This is by far my least favorite chapter, simply because I feel that I didn't get it right. BUT anyway, the lemon's on if you want it and don't even get me started on that. It was my first lemon EVER and I don't think I did so hot…..**

**This is also the most 'dark' chapter revealing a lot about Sakura's past and what she's been through and why she is the way she is.**

**http // www. mediaminer. org/fanfic/viewch.php/ 125526/ 437143/**

**I think that'll work. Just take out the spaces. **

**NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN&NN  
**

Sakura walked in to her unlocked apartment shucking off her sandals as she went. Temari and Kankuro didn't really seem like bad people, but nowhere in the information she'd received had it ever stated that Gaara actually had a biological family. That had not been a factor when she purposely had Jiraiya and Naruto ask for Suna's best assassin. She had thought that he would have been just like all the bujii vessels, miserable and alone.

He might not be so willing to go along with what she had planned.

Making her way to her room, she pulled at the bottom drawers pulling out her stash and needles. Alcohol wasn't going to be enough tonight, but it would probably help the effects of the drugs. Rolling one of the sleeves to her kimono, she found a tie and wrapped it tightly around her upper arm before finding her vein with the needle.

This wasn't the best she'd had, but to get more she'd have to go see Kisame, something she'd rather avoid for the time being. Her body relaxed and she grabbed the bottle of sake, her cigarettes and lighter before lying on the bed. It was just another one of those nights…..the kind where her past was quickly catching up and the emotions she'd hidden were leaking through.

Lighting a cigarette she took in a drag before throwing the lighter on the carpeted floor. She only had two weeks left to convince Gaara to help her, and at this rate, it could take longer. Longer wasn't an option though, she was going to hand herself over to Akatsuki willingly in two weeks and then there would be nothing left for her to do. She would finally have her death.

A death that hadn't been achieved despite all the abuse she put her body through. No matter how many times she should have died……..the damn curse kept her here, and instead those that tried to protect her had lost their lives.

She took another drag of her cigarette as she stared at the ceiling. So many of them had died because of her, Anko, Kakashi, and Sasuke.

The memories were flooding back quickly and the unfelt tears rolled down her face. She hated herself. She hated everything that she was, and everything that had happened because of her.

She was the embodiment of sin.

Her 'creators' had never given her the chance to have a normal life, bringing her into this world cursed for all eternity. She now carried the weight of their sins with her own.

A creation from the bowels of gluttony, gluttony for power that Orochimaru so desperately seeked. His envy of those who held unlimited chakra drove him to create his perfect vessel, the one that would grant him immortality. It was too bad that his pride had kept him from taking her body, maybe then she wouldn't have had to live through the heartache she had endured. It hadn't been his lust for Tsunade's body that had driven him to her, no it had had been the lust he had for her power and how he could exploit it for his own gain. His greed only fueled his lust and now here she lay begging for her death.

She hadn't always been this way. She could confidently say that for three years out of her existence she had actually wanted to live.

Growing up with Orochimaru wasn't the best experience in the world. Emotional abuse was an everyday thing, and the occasional beating during training wasn't too pleasant either. The most traumatic part was the experiments run on her to test her strength and capability. Those test _now_ probably wouldn't have scarred her up too bad…..but at 3 years old it didn't help her already weak self esteem, feeling different than everyone that served under 'Master Orochimaru'.

Even when he wasn't with her there were always his servants about, who feared getting too close to her because the last one who spoke to her had gotten his neck snapped in two in front of the entire staff. Kabuto tried to be nice, but his affection was often more creepy than comforting. Anko came into the scene when she was 6 and she was a breath of much needed fresh air. Sakura had only seen one or two women in the compound and one was really scary always pawning after her long locks; the other, a young red head who cursed worse than any man there.

Although she didn't have the best relationship with Anko, since she'd never really had a friend before, Anko was definitely fun to have around. She would never forget the look on Kabuto's face when she saw that she had painted Sakura's fingernails black. It wasn't but a few later when Anko managed to convince Orochimaru to let Sakura live with her off the compound and attend regular school.

She had hoped that things would finally be normal for her, but the kids seemed more withdraw once they saw Anko dropping her off one day. She never told Anko, Sakura had been the one to beg her to let her attend in the first place, so she just dealt with it happy that she was at least away from Orochimaru and away from those damn tests.

She met Naruto a few weeks later. For some reason the villagers hated him and often received disgusting looks when they would walk home. But he was always cheerful and brushed them off claiming to be their Hokage one day. He was a bit weird to her, but she supposed that she was weird to him after she told him she didn't know how to laugh. Naruto being who he was simply tickled her until she couldn't take it anymore promising to make her laugh from then on.

She learned quickly that he always kept his promises.

After just a few short weeks, they became fast friends and Sakura learned what it was like to have a _real_ friend. A boy by the name of Sasuke transferred to their school shortly after. It was rumored that he was the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan that had been murdered brutally. The rest of the students pitied him and found his cold exterior to be intimidating, but Naruto found him interesting. So somehow or another they all became close friends.

They all had a common bond.

They didn't fit in with anyone. Naruto was the kyuubi vessel she learned, Sasuke was the last of his clan who possessed the Sharingan, and Sakura was the biological daughter of the man who controlled a third of the city and was responsible for many shinobi deaths.

Somehow, they became each other's family, practically inseparable and Sakura couldn't have been happier.

But like all good things…… three years later when she was 9 she found out the truth behind Orochimaru letting Sakura attend school. He had wanted to link himself to Sasuke and study him. The most hurtful thing of all was that just a month after meeting Sasuke, he agreed to becoming Orochimaru's new vessel, to attain enough power to kill his brother, the one responsible for the clan massacre. Sasuke had only been pretending to be her friend, meanwhile reporting everything she did back to him.

She confronted Sasuke, not willing to believe what Orochimaru had said, but he didn't deny it and instead showed her his curse mark. She may not have interacted with her so-called father, but she knew of his jutsu that would let him live forever and witnessed it once. Knowing that Sasuke would be lost forever, she begged him not to accept his offer, there was still time to reverse it, that he was strong enough on his own and that she and Naruto would help…..but he wouldn't listen.

It hurt that she and Naruto weren't enough to save him.

And he quickly shut them out of his life taking residence with Orochimaru to begin his training. Naruto wasn't taking it too well, but knowing that he couldn't just march in there and demand Sasuke back, he and his guardian Jiraiya-san left to train.

When Anko offered her a way out of Konoha, she took it.

She passed her on to a man by the name of Kakashi Hatake, an ANBU member who had recently quit the force. Anko then told them both of what Orochimaru had planned for her, and how he would use her to sustain himself forever. Anko had been a candidate for his new body, but once the Uchiha massacre left only one he jumped at the chance, releasing her. Listening to the truth about her birth wasn't easy to hear, but she had never once seen her mother and she wouldn't even know her name until Shizune became her guardian.

Looking down at her hand the cigarette was burning into her skin, long forgotten. She put it out on her hand opting for the sake instead. For those three years of being with Sasuke and Naruto, blissfully ignorant of the truth, she had been truly happy. And just like everything that brought her happiness Orochimaru took it all away.

The pain in her chest was becoming too great and she cursed her tears. She opened the slit of her kimono and unstrapped the kunai she had on her thigh. She pierced her wrist slightly just watching as the maroon blood slowly trickled down her arm. It was when she was like this, with her body focusing on the physical pain instead of the emotional pain, that she was finally able to forget her mistake….her curse….her damn existence.

She could forget Kakashi's lifeless body after protecting her from an attack that she would have lived through.

She could forget that she was only created for evil, as a tool, and the only one that had ever loved her the way she wanted -she betrayed.

She could forget the look on Sasuke's face when Itachi told him he'd fucked her.

She could even forget that- because of the body she had, no matter how hard she tried, she was destined to live in misery.

The blade continued on it's routinely pattern across her body. The pain started consuming her, overpowering the emotions. This was what made her happy now. The cuts she inflicted on herself were _her_ choice, _her_ penance, _her_ escape. She may have been destined as a instrument for destruction, but she was never one to believe in not fighting your destiny.

She didn't live her lifestyle because found comfort in sex like Ino and Tenten. She found her comfort in the fact that she was paying off her sins with her pain, it was her choice to suffer and she deserved it. She felt her control slipping with each cut but didn't care, it was bound to happen anyway, it always did.

Her damn body was trying to preserve itself, reacting on instinct and it began healing the wounds faster than she could make them. Her senses were buzzing, her eyes changed back to the obsidian and crimson and her smell intensified. The snake tattoo on her body began to move and the smell of her blood was everywhere.

She froze midcut.

The smell of sand.

Looking over to the window, she saw Gaara leaning against the sill with his arms crossed a large gourd strapped to him.

"Tell me what you are."

She grinned letting her pink tongue dart out and lick her lips suggestively, hardly in control of her body. "I wasn't expecting you this late, Gaa_r_a."

Her voice was already an octave lower, also part of the awakening and she ignored his silence, opting to continue her torture.

"Your acts are foolish." he told her tonelessly and she involuntarily hissed.

She threw the kunai she had hitting the nearest wall and he didn't even flinch. "Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean its foolish." she shot back lifting her arm to her mouth to lick the blood off. "I do it……because it's _my choice_ to do so."

He snorted, looking away from her, "You make no sense."

"What a pity to hear you say that," reaching for her cigarettes she located her lighter and lit it. "I thought you of all people, would understand me."

He looked back her quirking his brow.

She answered the unasked question, "I thought you and I were kindred spirits, I thought you had suffered like I had...I didn't know you actually _belonged_ somewhere."

She took a longer drag from her cigarette, blowing the smoke in his direction, "I cut myself because I _deserve _it, it's my penance for all of my sins."

"That's truly idiotic."

Laughing bitterly she put out her cigarette on her palm, "What? I don't _look_ damned enough for you? Do I still look so fucking innocent that you can't see what I really am!" Her anger was quickly rising it was getting harder to control her words.

"And just _what_ are you?"

Locking eyes with him, she felt the slits in her eyes grow, "I'm a monster."

"Explain yourself," he said coldly, reaching back to pull the cork from his gourd, ready for anything like the great shinobi he was.

"I'm an abominable monster that deserves to die………I've killed, I cause pain, I betrayed the one I loved, and I will betray the ones that love me now." She took one last drag of her cigarette before putting it out on the wall, sighing her eyes and voice returned to what their normal tone and hue.

"The _one _person that ever cared for me like I wanted….was Sasuke." Her silence dragged on before she sighed again trying not to stumble over her words.

"Two years ago, Orochimaru's bastards found out where I was working. Naturally, that asshole sent Sasuke to retrieve me so that he wouldn't draw the attention of Akatsuki. What started out as Sasuke trying to convince me to go voluntarily turned into something else. For a whole week we spent every waking moment together, it felt like I had never left and he had never joined Orochimaru. Sasuke told me he no longer wanted to become his next vessel…….and that he missed me……." She laughed bitterly.

"We planned our escape from Konoha, the feelings I had for him as a child returned and I clinged to the hope that we would be able to be together. The night we were suppose to escape, Sasuke never showed. I couldn't believe that he had betrayed me, that all of those nights had meant nothing to him, so I still held hope that he would come for me. Instead, Itachi Uchiha showed up that night."

She clenched her fist tightly, "He said that Sasuke had betrayed me and had been toying with me all along, planning to hand me over to Orochimaru as soon as I left the safety of the central part of the city. I blindly defended Sasuke not believing for a moment that he could have lied to me again……..Itachi left that night and I wouldn't see him again for a whole month."

Releasing the fist she instead flexed her fingers, "As you can imagine, Sasuke never showed up, and as the days turned into weeks I finally accepted that he _was_ still under Orochimaru's control. After all I'd seen the curse mark he still wore, his trust record wasn't exactly all that great either, so I plunged myself into my self-made hell. When Itachi showed up a month later I was so wasted I didn't even bother stopping his advances." She shrugged her shoulder.

"Couldn't exactly call it rape if you never said no….hell I didn't even know what was going on until it was too late. The only thing I remember was the emotional and physical pain I felt that night had never been so great………and I'd never felt more alive. Fucked up as hell- but alive. Sasuke showed up that same night while Itachi was still there. Apparently, we'd fallen into one of Akatsuki's traps, they had been conspiring against us the whole time. The night Sasuke was suppose to come and meet me, Deiadra and Sasori intercepted him and told them I'd joined Akatsuki. Maybe his trust in me wasn't that great either because he believed them and had been surveying their part of the city for last month in search of me, ultimately following Itachi to my room."

She reached for the sake bottle and found it empty, "I will never forget the look on his face when he'd found out what I'd done, and he'd told me he'd never be able to forgive me for being with the man he'd sworn to kill. He didn't care that he'd believed in their lies as well and we'd _both_ been deceived, to him I was the traitor and he wanted nothing more to do with me."

Dropping her head, she let her bangs fall to cover her face. "After that, things just sort of blurred by for me, it was like I was _there_ just not living. I don't remember much, except that I started taking clients soon after Itachi dropped by again to inform me that Sasuke had given over his body to Orochimaru."

She reached under her bangs to wipe at the moisture that had collected there, her voice gained more assurance, "I know that the information Naruto gave you doesn't match up, but he still refuses to believe that he's lost his surrogate brother. He's in denial so he hasn't told anyone the truth yet, not even Hinata, he just can't accept the fact that he's lost to us now because of me."

She sighed reaching into her kimono to unstrap her last kunai. Twirling it in her fingers, she said nothing for a while, letting the silence envelop them. Green chakra seemed through her skin before disappearing all together, she rose from the bed, lifting her head in the process revealing the crimson eyes had returned. Her voice was more resonant than before, "Let's end this Gaara, kill me. I've waited five fucking years for you, so don't you dare hesitate."

He didn't.

The sand shot out briskly and in a large quantity instantly pinning her to the wall. He advanced on her quickly and the sand starting closing in tighter and he walked to stand in front of her. He looked angry and confused.

"What do you _mean_ five years?" he hissed.

She smirked.

"Gaara…….I know this isn't the best you can do." She let her green chakra leak out again forming a shield around her body before putting some in her hands and punching her way out.

The sand fell to the floor around them and his anger was evident. This time only a hand of sand snaked around her body before finding her throat. "Kill me Gaara……or at least try to." she purred, "Otherwise I won't tell you a damn thing about why you're _really_ here."

The hand tightened around her and she closed her eyes before shaking her head. "That won't do it," she gasped out. The sand started sliding back towards her covering her entire lower half.

"Sabaku k-

"That attack won't work on me, try something stronger," she challenged never letting her eyes leave his. He responded by finishing the attack anyway.

"Sabaku Kyuu."

If it wasn't for the sand that was holding her in place, her crushed legs wouldn't have been able to hold her. Immediately her chakra started bleeding out repairing the damage done, she shook her head looking towards her ceiling, "Damn...I hate being right."

He stood closer, "So you want to die just because you and Uchiha betrayed other? That's the dumbest thing you've said all-night."

"You wouldn't understand, it's not just that…it's everything."

Taking his hand, he forced her to look at him. "Try me."

She opened her eyes, "You can't understand because you have a family, you belong somewhere…..you're not just a tool, you weren't just created because someone sought after the closest thing to immortality there ever was. Don't you _get_ it? Everything that has happened to me has been because of that bastard! No one _loved_ me, people feared me, I was an outcast because people thought I was just associated with him. Hell! If people found out I was his biological child I would have been targeted a long time ago! The one person," she forced her tears back.

"The one person that cared for me like that is dead now… and it's because of me…..meanwhile I'm still alive and can't fucking die! I never wanted this life Gaara…..I never ASKED to be born. I never wanted to have those around me die and suffer because of my damn existence."

The tears leaked out of her eyes, "I don't want to live, because by me living I'm letting him win. If I live and somehow he captures me that will ensure that he will live on, there's no way that I can fight against him if he takes Sauske's form. My death is the only thing I have that I can say was _my _choice. And in a way, I think that it'll atone for all the people who lost their lives because of me."

She met his eyes and was astounded to see that they not his, but of the bujii within him. "You stupid woman." his breathing was become more labored and he reached towards the tattoo on his head.

"Do you really think that because I have biological siblings I had a real _family?_ I too was created for the sole purpose of destruction. My _father_ didn't want another son, he already had Kankuro, he desired power and the Shukaku was only a way of ensuring that no one would rise against him. Did you know that my own father tried to have me assassinated before I even knew what that word meant?"

She said nothing as her crimson eyes searched his.

"My own mother cursed me as she died. Kankuro and Temari hated me for being the reason they lost her. That asshole of a father couldn't even look at me for a while because he said I looked like the woman who bore me. Family?" he sneered, "I have never had anyone in my life other than myself. I only live for myself and exist for myself, every decision I make is mine alone, to benefit me. Stop feeling sorry for yourself," he let the sand drop away from her and he replaced it with his hands on her shoulders, pinning her tightly to the wall with his own body.

"You've killed people? So what, so have I, people die and you tarnish the memory of those that died for you by doing this."

Her skin started glowing green again stinging his hands, "Let me go."

"No," he said firmly pushing her more firmly to the wall, "You're going to listen to what I have to say…and then you're going to answer some of my questions."

"Stop it," she hissed letting more chakra bleed out, "its poison, you'll die," she said worriedly, her eyes were alternating between emerald and red.

"The Shukaku within me won't let me be killed so easily," he said leaning in dangerously close noses brushing against each other and she smiled deviously, here eyes stayed crimson. "There's no antidote to my poison Gaara and no bujii can save you….because it's the poison of a bujii that flows within me."

He opened his mouth in response but she grabbed his arms and pulled her two him her lips meeting his and she felt him stiffen.

Retaliating against her intrusion, he pushed her back harder against the wall, her head making contact. "I never said you could _touch_ me," he said dangerously, the amber eyes of the bujii becoming more dominant.

With a shaky hand she reached around his arm caressing the tattoo on his forehead, "You never said I couldn't." she coaxed. He didn't pull away, but didn't lean into her touch either, just continued to watch her suspiciously.

"I don't want your pity," he said coldly.

"That's not why I'm doing this," she said almost soothingly. When she went to try to kiss him he slammed her back again.

Sighing deeply she used her other hand to cup his face, running her thumb against his smooth cheek. "Give me what I want Gaara……..and I'll give you any information you want," his eyes narrowed.

She tried again, "I'll even tell you the truth about why you're really here."

"Your bribes won't work on me," he answered back his face hovering over hers, "I don't do _anything_ unless I _want_ to," he said before forcefully pressing his mouth on hers.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EDITED OUT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

His damp forehead rested above her breast and his heavy breaths tickled her sensitive body. Feeling her chakra recede quickly and her body return to normal, she reluctantly unwrapped her legs from around him, standing shakily when the sand holding her hands captive released her.

He pulled away, his somewhat hard member slid out of her and she felt the emptiness return. He met her gaze and she watched as his eyes went from amber back to their aquamarine shade. The confidence and aggressiveness he'd just expressed to her gone and instead looked thoroughly confused. Brushing his damp hair back from around the kanji she suddenly felt like comforting him. "Um…..the bathroom is over there if you need to clean up."

He blinked twice before looking down slowly and saw he wasn't quite back in his pants yet. After adjusting his clothes, he nodded towards her before making his way towards the bathroom. Sakura allowed herself a smile; after all, it wasn't like he could _see_ her struggling to laugh at his 'what the fuck did I just do' expression.

She wondered if that had been the first time he'd let his demon come out when having sex. Judging by his reaction, it probably had been. The giddiness she felt from her orgasm, as well as her new discovery gave her the energy to make it to the cold mattress laying on it face up she let it cool her sweaty body. She could hear the shower going and she hoped there was hot water left when he finished. It was somewhat weird for him to still be here in the first place….and then having him use her hot water….well it wasn't like she could get mad she _offered_ it to him first.

Although that didn't mean they couldn't _share_, right?

Sitting up she pulled the last chopstick lost in her tangled hair and then stood to take off the shredded obi. Apparently, he'd been as much of a hurry as she had. Peeling the kimono off her sweaty form, she used it to clean the mess on her thighs then threw it to the corner of the room. She needed to buy a new one anyway. Walking towards the bathroom she wondered how many people had watched the free show they'd given since they hadn't even bothered to move away from near the window.

Shrugging she slid the door open and walked into the steamy bathroom.

Maybe the Shakaku would come out to play again, she thought deviously before closing the door behind her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAnother one bites the dust.OOOOOO

AN: Yes I'm not done complaining.

I hope this didn't seem like, 'oh we had sex let's be boyfriend girlfriend and I trust you with all my heart' because that's not how it's going to go. Trust me they haven't forgotten who they are or what they're about. It was just sort of a break and don't worry, self assured bad ass Gaara will be back in the next chapter and demanding information….

If I can keep them from having sex in the shower. sweatdrop

Anyway, reviews are always loved.

If you hated this chapter, eh, just wait till the next one. It'll be better ; )

OHOH OH OH and the attack Gaara did was his sand coffin one, forgot to translate : )

That's it!


	10. The Morning After

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaXSaku**

**The Morning After**

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

What started out as a way to clean up, ended up becoming more of a mess after another round of sex in the shower. Sakura suspected that he had heard her as soon as she'd opened the door and didn't even bother to stop cleaning when she climbed in after him. It was much easier to coax him into being 'affectionate' the second time around and she was grateful she wouldn't have to start a fight every time she wanted to get laid. She finished her shower first, happy that there was still some hot water and left the bathroom after wrapping herself in a large fluffy white towel.

Finding a black tank and some boy shorts at the bottom of her closet, probably Naruto's she'd thieved, she headed towards the kitchen to order what felt like dinner, but what was really breakfast. She debated whether she should ask Gaara what he wanted or just order for him, and as much as she wouldn't mind going back in there to see him getting dressed, it was probably best to get down to business instead of indulging herself. Dialing the number she knew by heart, she ordered her usual, just doubled it. One of the good things about living in this part of town was that there was always someone open and willing to deliver. Ichiraku's was one of them.

The cold droplets from her hair reminded her to brush out the tangles that had worsened in the shower. Going back to her rooms, she dug through the closet again in search of the missing brush. It was probably easier to keep it in the bathroom, but she never left things where they went, and usually chucked everything in the spacious closet after she used them. Finding the brush, she made her way back to the kitchen to wait for the delivery boy. The sun would be rising soon, and another night had gone by with no sleep, what joy.

The hesitant knock came a few minutes later and she opened the door to see the usual delivery boy. Without so much as a 'here' he handed her the three bags before hastily retreating, mumbling something about charging it to her account. She'd never be able to figure that one out, no matter how many times she tried to get him to talk or even look her in the eyes he would always panic and run out of there leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Sighing she closed the door and laid out the containers of food on the kitchen table. It was odd that Gaara wasn't out yet, when she'd gone in earlier to get her brush she was sure the water was still running. Although it was very likely there was no more hot water left.

Brushing it off she went instead to make tea, finishing tending to her rebellious lengthy pink locks, she tied it off in a high pony tail glad to be rid of it. When the tea was done and there was still no sign of Gaara, she really worried.

Looking at the food and the hallway, she had to really wonder which she wanted more at the moment, and despite the growl of her stomach, she marched down the hallway wondering what the hell Gaara was doing. He wasn't in her room and that made her nerves worse. Opening the bathroom door she found the floor submerged in water, opening the closed curtain she was horrified to find Gaara laying face up in the water with sand taking over his entire upper right side. The sand was morphed into some kind of demon with blue markings and the right arm was turning into a lengthy claw.

'Fuck'

She cursed mentally before turning off the water and looking to see what caused the drain to clog. Of course more sand had run down and when she tried pulling it out it reacted by turning into a tail and wrapping around her wrist. Looking back at Gaara she found that only his right eye was open…….and it wasn't Gaara looking back at her.

'Double Fuck' she thought before trying to push her chakra out and repel him. It worked only long enough to detach her wrist. She was pretty sure that the Shukaku wasn't allowed to be awake without its host, which meant she was in pretty big trouble if she didn't somehow bring Gaara back…….or seal him. Seeing as how she had _no idea_ how to do the first, she settled for the second. Lifting him by the side left untouched by sand, she hoisted him out of the water and hesitantly wrapped her arm around his waist. Immediately the sand covered where she touched and it started running up her arm.

She placed him on her bed throwing her towel around his lower half and set out making seals. The only time she'd ever had to do this particular jutsu had been a long time ago when she fought against the two tails……and although it wasn't perfect, the jutsu worked as she placed her palms over his chest. Watching the sand recede was the best feeling, knowing that she wasn't in danger anymore was a great thing, but when Gaara didn't wake she began feeling anxious again. Remembering what he'd said earlier about never sleeping, the light bulb went off in her head. No wonder he never slept, the Shukaku could take over his body when he did.

The thought of not sleeping _ever_ depressed her. Sleep was another form of escape. She never dreamt so it was more or less peaceful, if she could ever fall asleep, that was. Looking back at the sleeping man, she was reluctant to wake him. No sleep was really taking a toll on his body; it was only a matter of time before whatever he was doing to get by, stopped working. Besides, didn't everyone deserve a good nap occasionally?

Making herself comfortable on the bed, she sat in meditation position with her palms still firmly placed on his naked chest. As much as she would have loved to oogle since he wasn't really conscious, she thought against it, since she would actually have to concentrate to keep the jutsu going. Taking in a deep breath she held it, concentrating on nothing…….and not on the sexy naked man underneath her palms.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The first thing Gaara noticed when he woke up was that there was something heavy and warm lying on top of him. The second and most important thing, he noticed was that he had _woken up_, meaning that at some point or another he had been _a sleep._ Panic shot adrenaline through his entire body and he sat up knocking the pink haired woman into his lap. He might not have complained so much about the position if he hadn't just had such a rude awakening. The woman stirred and he shook her shoulder in attempts to figure out just what in the hell happened.

The last thing he'd remembered was her leaving the shower and feeling dizzy. How could the Shukaku have forced himself out in such away that _he_ was forced into sleep? He'd never been able to come out on his own, Gaara had to let him, perhaps some more mediation was needed tonight. Although……he was feeling rather good. Better in fact than he had in a long time, 'ah' he thought, 'the wonder of sleep.'

"Gimme a break okay………." she mumbled rubbing her eyes and some of his stomach with her fist, "I'm reaaaaaally sleepy and you already got a nap." She got up slowly squinting at the morning rays peeking in through her window and then fell back on the bed again. "Ugh, _morning?_" she whined.

Curling herself back into half a ball she reached blindly for the sheet until Gaara ended up handing it to her. With a triumphant smile, with her eyes still closed, she covered herself up entirely and within seconds was back asleep. Weird woman he thought before noticing his lack of clothing. Getting out of the bed, he went in search of his pants and found them drenched in the bathroom. As much as he disliked the idea of walking around naked, he disliked the idea of wearing soggy clothes even more. Wrapping the towel around his waist tighter, he followed the strange smell that caught his nose to the kitchen.

He didn't know people could each so much ramen as he stared at container after container of different kinds of the substance. Cold tea sat on the stove and he figured she had planned on eating at one point. Turning the match back on he stuck two of the eight containers of ramen into the microwave. The first wasn't too bad, but the second one was more to his liking, the tea though was the most bitter he'd ever had. Throwing away the trash he heard shuffling in the hall and a second later a figure bundled in a large white comforter peeked around the corner.

"I smelled food." She confessed as she set about heating up four boxes of ramen in one large chipped bowl. She didn't say anything, and Gaara wondered if she was sleepwalking because her eyes never opened during her preparation of breakfast. The microwave beeped and she jumped before taking it out and heading towards the table comforter dragging behind her. With every bite she seemed to wake up more and by the time she finished she was back to being as normal as she could be. She dumped the bowl in the sink, answering the suspicions on how the bowl got cracked in the fist place and she picked up the comforter heading towards the bedroom.

Surly she wouldn't go back to sleep, right?

He followed her into the room and found her back on the bed completely covered.

Apparently so. She pulled out something that resembled clothing and held it out towards him, "Here's some pants you can put on, don't worry they're not mine or anything," she said somewhat clearly.

He took them but didn't put them on. "They're orange." he said as if they had puke on them and he heard her chuckle under the covers. "I'm sorry but there's a limited supply of men's clothing around here and Naruto thinks this is his home away from home so he often leaves his shit here."

"I'll pass," he said throwing the pants to the side. She sat up with the cover as her cocoon and patted the bed next to her. "We need to talk."

As much as he would have loved to be a smartass, he bit his tongue and sat down next to her. She rubbed away the traces of sleep from her eyes and yawned, "You can't keep doing that to your body. You use an extensive amount of chakra to control your sand and whatever you're doing enough to replenish your energy."

"I can't exactly sleep, you've seen what happens, besides this is not of your concern." It damn right wasn't her business, so why in the hell had he been polite in the first place.

Rubbing her temple she sighed loudly, "Ah, yes I apologize for over stepping my boundaries. I'm sure that you've already had a medic examine you and tell you that you're both mentally and physically exhausted. So let me just give you a little bit of friendly advice." Her eyes lit up as if she were about to give him the best news in the world. "Find someone that can do seal the bujii for a little while and get yourself a nap once in a while. Trust me I've been around bujii and the last thing they need is for their host to be in a weak state, cause all they want to do is come out and play."

So much for good advice.

"I'm perfectly fine. I've been this long without sleep and I can go longer." It was a lie. He knew the risks of what would happen if he didn't meditate enough or what could happen if couldn't regain control of his conscious form. "Besides, there is only one in Suna who can seal the bujii, and I don't trust that worthless old hag."

Her face lit up again, "Well then, in that case, I'll make you a deal. For the rest of my two weeks while I'm here, I'll seal you up every night and you can go to sleep! And as a trade you can let me sleep in and make breakfast."

"I don't cook."

"Okay, call in breakfast."

"I don't call-

"Okay okay fine." she said waving off his unwillingness to comply. Who in the hell did she think he was, calling in breakfast?

"Alright then geez, I'll just do it out of the goodness of my heart okay?"

He snorted and she glared.

"How is that you can do seals for a bujii anyway?" he asked changing the subject. He'd seen that glare directed towards Uzumaki and then he'd received a lump on the head, and while he highly doubted she would raise a hand towards him…..he didn't want to take that chance.

"My master taught it to me a long time ago," she said whimsically.

"Hatake." he tried.

Her smile was sad but she nodded anyway. "Yeah Kakashi sensei always taught me a bunch of useless crap but I guess some of it paid off." She reached over the bed looking underneath until she pulled out the rosary.

"Those beads resemble a monk's."

She laughed out loud this time and it was Gaara's turn to be displeased. Noticing his dark arura she quickly amended, "No, you don't understand, it's just that Kakashi-sensei was actually such a dirty old pervert reading the latest books from Jiraiya-san, and the thought of him being _anything_ holy was just funny to me." She looked down at the rosary and the humor faded, "He actually was a monk………or at least I think he wanted to be."

Twirling the beads in her fingers she looked out towards the now bright morning, "When Kakashi-sensei took me from Konoha, he hid me in a monastery. You've heard of Sakumo Hatake right?"

Sakumo was indeed a familiar name, he was a legendary shinobi who fought against Chiyo's son and killed him. "White Fang," he said and she nodded looking back towards him.

"Yeah, that was Kakashi's father, after that fight in Suna, he gave up fighting altogether and became a monk. I know it's a weird thought that someone of such great talents could just give it up and walk away from a life of killing………but he did. He was a nice old man and if I didn't know who he was previously, I would never have pegged him as the legendary White Fang. Anyway, he became a monk and when Kakashi needed a place to hide me, he took me there visiting me every week. While it's forbidden to have females in the monastery, Sakumo was so highly respected that they just let me stay on the outer walls of the temple and of course made me hide my hideous pink hair," she said rolling her eyes.

"It didn't take long before Kakashi got pulled into the zen atmosphere of the place and he actually became just a fraction more religious. Although he never pursed actually becoming a monk, cause that of course would mean he'd have to give up his porn, he was actually getting into the swing of their lifestyle before he died. Who knows, maybe a few more years there and he would have," her smile had no warmth and it was obvious whomever her sensei had been she missed.

"But I guess things really couldn't have been any different, otherwise I might never have heard of you," she told him her cheery attitude back.

"What do you mean?"

"The first time I heard of you was from a man named Ebizo who stumbled into our temple."

"Ebizo died of old age five years ago," he ground out nostrils flaring.

She tilted her head slightly, "Is that what they told you?"

"Everyone in Suna _knows_ that he is dead, whoever you met was just an imposter."

"Then how would an imposter know about the Shukaku hidden deep within Suna's walls?" she challenged and he was actually at loss of words.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Ebizo came to our temple in search of shelter from some nin who were tracking him in order to assassinate him. Would you happen to know why?"

"Ebizo highly resented the current Kazekage and often critiqued many of his ideals," he replied. Ebizo had been one of the few that opposed the Shukaku being placed inside him.

"Well that's one quick way to get your ass killed," she said humorlessly, "So apparently your Kazekage sent someone to quiet him for something he'd seen and he'd ran, although I was fairly certain it was nearly impossible to get out of that fortress."

"His sister is the old hag I mentioned earlier. She has great influence over the people in Suna so I'm sure she had something to do with his escape," which was true, Chiyo was known to only care for herself and her brother; it wouldn't be surprising for her to betray the Kage.

"Ebizo didn't get along to well with Kakashi- sensei at first, but he warmed up to him I think over time. He was telling Kakashi one night about you, I couldn't quite hear the details since I was spying at the time, but he said you were really powerful and that you'd become a target soon."

"Akatsuki."

"Yeah, Konoha had already been invaded by then and they had just begun their collection of bujii, somehow Ebizo knew that they would eventually end up in Suna to get you. It was then I decided that you were the one I needed to help me."

He quirked his brow at her admission of needing help, "What for?"

She hesitated before beginning, "Well, back then I was really going through a rough time, so I _originally_ wanted you to come and kill me. That's why when I returned to Konoha I set out a plan that would get you to come here without anyone knowing why."

"The request for an assassin."

"Right, but not just any assassin, but their best. Naturally if you were a container you would be at the top of the ranks, it would be least suspicious to ask for the most skilled instead of the Shukaku. I had Naruto and Jiraiya convinced that by brining outside help from Suna, and allying ourselves, it would help our chances whenever Konoha launched their attack to eliminate Orochimaru. Before the message was sent on Neji's hawk I tweaked the mission a bit so that you would come to me first instead of running into Naruto."

"So you knew my purpose all along."

"Well…….I wouldn't go that far," she said scratching her head, "I was pretty messed up the first few times we saw each other. But once I smelled the sand and felt your aura I knew it was you. I'm pretty sure that Naruto and Jiraiya still think that you're only here to help out."

"You were wrong about Jiraiya not knowing, the day of the ceremony he was the one that told me that you had been responsible for reviewing and sending off the mission."

"What! That Ero-sennin, I'm going to break his ribs the next time I see him! How dare he be sneaky like that, making me think I got away with something when in fact he knew all along," she said angrily crossing her arms, "Damnit."

Her childish temper reminded him a lot of Uzumaki and he wondered who had rubbed off on who, or if they had both always been like this. "You said that you originally wanted me here to kill you, what's changed."

Whatever murderous thoughts she'd been having she left momentarily to answer his question, "Well, since I'm pretty sure you're Kage is dead, that means that the alliance between Konoha and Suna is void, and that also means that your 'mission'," she said quoting with her fingers, "is over. But now there's something better that I need you for."

Gaara was almost afraid to ask. Almost. "What?"

She smiled deviously and he knew instantly he'd made a mistake.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AN: Did I just write a cliff hanger: ) Me? oops. Sorry! I'll try to update soon since I have about three weeks to finish this story before fall semester starts.

Ebizo is actually Chiyo's brother in the manga.

And I couldn't resist throwing in the thought of Kakashi giving up his icha icha to become a monk. Oh the laughter!

XxShadow-Of LiesxX- it is pretty hard to feel sorry for her when she's getting laid by Gaara no less. sigh Oh well, at least one of us is : )

LoveShinobi4eva- THANKS! I can always count on your review to cheer me up.

Xinthos- You had just written to me that you liked the pace of the story and then BAM I went and gave you information overload. SORRY! I hope it doesn't seem like I'm rushing it, because there's still quite a bit more.

crazytreeotaku- thanks for reading A kunoichi's lament, it's not doing to good on the reviews but I'm glad that some people like it!


	11. The New Mission

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The New Mission**

**AN: I own nothing.**

**So sorry it took me so long to update. It wasn't the writer's block that kept me from writing, but life. Maybe things will be better this week cause I desperately need this finished before school starts.**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"I need you to stay in Konoha."

His eyes narrowed at the woman sitting across from him. Catching on to his reluctance, she intercepted his thoughts, "I don't mean a permanent change of address or becoming a missing nin; all I need you to do is stick around for a while."

"Why?"

His annoyance at such a request was evident and she took a heaving sigh before starting again, "Look, I'm not going to lie to you since I really need this big favor from you okay?" She didn't even bother for a response, "In two weeks I'm no longer going to be able to look after Naruto since I'll be under Akatsuki's jurisdiction."

"Elaborate."

"My reasons aren't what's important here, it's what comes after that I'm worried about. According to a source of mine, Akatsuki isn't going to keep their end of the bargain I had with them and instead they're going to come after Naruto right after I'm out of the way."

"Is your source reliable?"

A small smile made its way on her features, "Yeah, Deidara's not really that bad of a guy and he's never lied to me before so I believe what he says. Anyway, Diedara made it clear that once I'm no longer of assistance, Akatsuki's going to finish extracting the remaining bujii, and the first one they're going to go after is Naruto."

"I fail to see how this is of relevance to me staying here."

She was really fighting an uphill battle on this one, "Well, assuming that they know who you are and _what_ you are, they're going to come after you too. Considering that your country is momentarily weakened by the lack of a Kage, it might not be in your best interest to head back so soon."

He stopped glaring at her and instead shifted a bit on the bed, "There is no need for you to pretend to care for the safety of my country. But if you do want me to stay here, you're going to have to tell me the real reason why."

She was momentarily wounded at his words, she _had_ truly been a worried at the thought of Suna in chaos and Akatsuki seizing control there also. Huffing she crossed her legs, "Fine. I need you to stay here and help Naruto lauch his attack on Orochimaru and Akatsuki."

That seemed to have caught him off guard and he didn't say anything for a while.

"You may or may not already know, but Jiraiya and Naruto, as well as many of the clan heads are planning a revolt to finally take back Konoha from both vermon that currently inhabit it. If you leave before hand, I know Akatsuki will dispatch a team after you immediately, and if my some chance they manage to capture you then it'll all be over."

"I don't see the connection."

"If word gets to Naruto that you've been captured and are still alive he'll be too distracted to launch the attack and go and rescue you."

"That's stupid, he has no reason for-

Holding her hand up, she stopped his rant. "Naruto isn't exactly normal, and he has a habit of getting strongly attached to people he feels are like him. He considers you a friend whether you care to acknowledge it or not and if Naruto is one thing, that's protective of his friends."

"He's a fool."

"Well; I guess I can't really argue with you there, but believe it or not, it's his attachments and love for other people that make him a force to be reckoned with. Akatsuki's hasn't quite caught on to this, but Orochimaru has so he hasn't provoked him much lately."

His silence was making her a bit edgy so she took the opportunity to go grab another cigarette from her drawer. It was the last box with only two left. Great, no-good drugs and now no cigarettes, at least she had plenty of sake. Locating the lighter, she made her way back to the bed and laid on her stomach flicking her black lighter. After successfully lighting it, she offered the other to her partner and almost smiled at his disgusted expression.

"I'll take that as a no."

"I didn't know you were the type to let yourself become addicted to such an annoying habit."

"Addicted?" she asked, raising a pink brow before laughing, "I'm not addicted, the nicotine in these is hardly enough to give me any satisfaction. I only smoke because I like pissing_ her_ off."

She could see the question forming on his tongue and she reacted with a quip of her own. "I didn't think something as minute as a little smoke could bother you," she teased put the cigarette out on her hand and got up to throw both of them away. It was going to be a long two weeks if she wasn't going to be able to smoke once in a while to get her fun.

Throwing herself back on the bed, she barely heard, "My father smoked."

Wow, he really should get laid more often if he was going to be this open afterwards she mused. But this time he cut off her impending question.

"I thought you said Uzumaki was protective of his friends, how is it that he's going to let you go to Akatsuki? Wouldn't you just be doing the same thing you warned _me_ about?"

Cringing she looked away and toyed with the rosary again, "Well, see I also needed your help with that too."

"You want me to lie to him."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Shinobi lie all the time when on missions, this would be no different."

She turned back to him trying to see if he was seriously willing to help her. "So you-

"This is why Uzumaki is an idiot."

"Huh?"

Gaara shifted again on the bed pulling one of his legs to be half bent on the bed. Sakura eyed the towel wondering just how tightly he'd tied it on.

"Uzumaki is stupid because he puts trusts in others and protects people who only turn around and betray him." His words cut deep and she couldn't stop her flinch.

"Not everyone would betray him Gaara, in fact, his fierce loyalty earns him beneficial relationships that will help him have strong allies when he's the Hokage. I was just a lost cause right from the start, Naruto knows this, so when he finds out the truth I'm sure he won't be too surprised."

"You're asking me to stay and to help him fight, but I don't understand why you would even care what happens to him considering you're going to be on opposing sides when fighting breaks out."

"Don't try to understand my reasons Gaara," she said solemnly as she lowered her gaze, "If there's one thing I truly want in this world, it's for Naruto to become the Hokage of Konoha, grow old with Hinata and raise their child in a city of peace and not of corruption."

"Then why-

"Let's just say that Akatsuki can offer me something I've been wanting since I discovered what I was."

Sakura could visually see the idea coming to Gaara before his eyes narrowed dangerously, "They're going to kill you."

There were many responses to that accusation but she chose to ignore them all and instead safely avoid the subject. "So I'll make you a deal. You stay here with Naruto after I'm gone and help him in whatever way you feel comfortable and then you can go back to your beloved Suna with a treaty I'll draft up with Jiraiya beforehand."

"I'm listening."

Grateful he let the subject drop she continued with her persuasion. "The treaty won't be as beneficial as the one we had originally agreed on with the Kazekage, but it will enable Suna and Konoha to work together after the defeat of Orochimaru and Akatsuki, to rebuild themselves to what they were before. I'm sure we could also throw in a nice bonus for extending your services here in Konoha as well." He nodded once, somewhat pleased with her offer but she wasn't quite done, "Also, for the remainder of my vacation I'll be sealing the bujii so that you can get some sleep and rejuvenate yourself in a way before heading back."

"You seem to have given this a lot of thought," he said half amused at her diplomatic approach.

"I've been planning this for a while now, so I had plenty of time to think of how to propose this offer," her eyes sparkled with mischief, "So do we have a deal?"

He crossed him arms tightly across his chest, "For the moment….yes."

Immediately she jumped up and pulled him to his feet along with her. "Well let's get started then," she said in an excited manner.

"What are we doing?"

"We're moving you in," she said in a 'duh you're so stupid' kind of way.

He drew back his arm from her clutch, "And why would I be doing that exactly?"

Another devious smile worked its way on her face as she leaned in close, "So that we can fulfill the other part of our deal."

Sakura didn't know if he was confused about the way she was invading his personal space, or that he didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but either way he was still fun to tease.

"What other part of our deal?" he asked as she stood directly in front of him wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Well, it would be kind of hard to let you take advantage of me whenever you wanted if you were living on the other side of town," she said gently brushing her fingers over the kanji on his temple.

"I don't remember saying I required these services from you," he replied looking down at the woman who was intimately pressed against him, yet didn't push her away.

"Are you saying you don't want to have sex with me?" she asked feigning shock, "You know it's not everyday you meet a girl you can let your bujii enjoy."

"I never said I didn't _want_ you," he said wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her tighter against him, "But there simply is no fun in a woman who will spread her legs just because she has to."

He bent his head lower, putting his mouth near her ear, "So if we're going to add this part of our arrangement, I want you to do it because you want it, and not because you feel that this will sway my decision any."

Every word and hot breath that touched her ear sent chills of promises of what was to come during their time together. "And I also want you to be the woman you were last night, and not the obedient puppet you've allowed yourself to become for your clients." His tongue traced her ear and he felt herself becoming aroused all over again, and not only by his actions but by his words.

"I believe it will make things more interesting this way, don't you think?" he asked and she bit her lip to recompose herself.

"I do indeed." Was all she managed to say before his demanding mouth fell upon hers.

**IOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOI**

**OMG, I felt like gouging my eyes out while writing this. I just can't seem to make this story flow like I want it too. : (**

**Anyway, I promise the next chapter will be longer; I just needed to get this one out of the way. Hope Gaara wasn't too OOC on this one but I'm discovering that he's a real pain in the ss to write. (even though he's one of my fav characters) XD**

**So yeah, like I said above, I'm going to try my hardest to finish this story by next weekend and judging by my notes it only has about 5 or 6 chapters left so cross your fingers.**

**LoveShinobi4eva- as always your reviews cheer me up. Thanks**

**LynGreenTea- I'm TRYING! I really am….sobs**

**XxShadow-Of-LiesxX- Yes Gaara now has a new mission that involves doing 'other' things to sakura XD**

**Xinthos- LOL Loved your review, and I couldn't write a story like what you described if my life depended on it. I tend to be the draw it out type of person instead of the 'quickie' type ;)**

**DarkAngel Rose XS- Awww Thank you! 100 reviews? I'm just grateful for the ones I do have!**

**yuki bozu- thanx I liked that paragraph too : )**

**no one important- I'm glad you've continued to follow my story this far.**

**bigityboo- I too enjoy stories where Sakura isn't a pushover and can actually kick some ass. Gaara's just hot **


	12. The Roommate

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Roommate**

**Disclaimer: I own nada….**

**WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

It wasn't until much later in the evening that they were finally able to leave the apartment. After checking Gaara out of the Nara Inn, and a few knowing looks from Nara-san, they were making their way to a familiar dango stand close to home.

It took a great deal of pleading on Sakura's part, since Gaara was in a hurry to get back and stay there, but as much she prized her isolation from society, even she liked going out once in a while. They sat on opposite ends of the booth drinking the warm sake, waiting patiently for their food. Sakura studied the black bag at Gaara's feet wondering how it was possible to travel so light despite it being a three-day trip to Konoha.

"Find something interesting?"

His cool voice brought her attention back to her sake and she took it straight from the bottle. "I was just wondering how you were planning on surviving here with just what you brought," she told him truthfully taking another sip of her drink.

"I wasn't planning on staying here for more than a couple of days."

"Ah," Of course, he'd only been here for an assassination -her assassination- and that shouldn't have taken more than one night. Yet, here he was sitting across from her indulging her in small talk and pleasantries. The waitress came soon enough with two plates of dango for her and a bowl of miso soup for him.

It wasn't hard to spot a fan girl in her, with the shaky hands and googly eyes every time she had to speak to Gaara. But perhaps the most interesting thing of all was Gaara's ignorance to the stares and nervous chatter of the poor girl. She made her way back to the kitchen with only stumbling a few times, which she could have avoided if she stopped looking at the striking bujii vessel across from Sakura.

Noticing that he was missing his chopsticks he frowned and looked in the direction of the girl. Putting down the now empty stick of dango Sakura rather enjoyed watching the many annoyed expressions of Gaara. "Cut her some slack she's having difficulty functioning around you so she was bound to forget something."

"I haven't said anything to her," he defended never taking his eyes off the door, as if that would magically produce the chopsticks.

"I don't think you have to _dear_," she retorted stressing the new nickname she bestowed him, "She's simply put off by your hotness."

He looked back towards her glaring, before smirking slightly; she snorted and rolled her eyes. Apparently, every man, even the homicidal silent ones, liked their egos stroked occasionally. When the nervous girl finally came back out, she immediately locked eyes with Gaara and blushed furiously rooted to the spot. Sakura made the signal for the missing utensils and her blush only intensified.

She retrieved some chopsticks and practically ran to the table handing them to her obvious crush. Oh yes, it was definitely a good think she wasn't the jealous type, Sakura thought to herself before taking another shot, otherwise she might actually have to do something about the chestnut haired waitress who had just given her a dirty look for not drinking from the dish.

Gaara waved her away and she did so without hesitation, "She doesn't seem to care for you."

Sakura allowed herself a laugh, "No shit."

The atmosphere for the rest of dinner was rather pleasant, falling into the occasional comfortable silence and when the bill came, she insisted she pay. "Gaara if you go up there to pay I worry you might give the girl a heart attack," she rationalized.

"I don't-

"Just go outside and wait for me okay?" she asked pleadingly, "And the next one will be on you."

Not too pleased, but still complying, he grabbed his shuffle and made his way out. Grinning inwardly, she made her way to the checkout to pay, and as expected, the girl was too busy looking outside to notice her. She cleared her throat and the teenager jumped and turned to face her. It was quite enjoying seeing how quickly she could go from polite to disgust. Taking the bill and the cash, she didn't offer a word before giving her back her change.

Putting the change in her back pocket, Sakura rested her elbows on the counter, "Just a word of friendly advice," the girl who was already walking away turned only halfway around with much effort. "It would be in your best interest to be respectful to _all_ of your costumers and not only the ones you crush on; otherwise, you just never know who you'll get on your bad side."

Her hazel eyes narrowed at the woman dressed in oversized dark clothes, "I didn't exactly see a ring, and besides what kind of _lady_ are you anyway?" she sneered.

Smiling fakely Sakura balled her fists tighter, "Calm down, it was only a bit of friendly advice," she stepped away from the counter, "_I_ may not care if you stare at my lover, but the next girl might. It would be such a tragedy for you to make an enemy over something so trivial as a man, so how about next time you try to keep your eyes to yourself, okay?"

The girl opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally closing it. Looking over Sakura's shoulder her eyes widened and bowed respectfully, "I'm terribly sorry, it will not happen again."

"I'm glad," she responded before turning to see Gaara leaning in the doorway. He said nothing and she didn't offer any information, but she didn't resist the smile as they walked back to her apartment.

She had a nervous flutter as they turned her block, up until now she hadn't really thought about having a roommate. She used that term loosely considering he would be doing more than just living there. Sharing her living space hadn't been an issue since living with Shizune, and even then she'd been too young to remember if she liked it or not. The occasional drop by from Naruto didn't count considering he was usually there for medical attention and was out as soon as he could to go check on Hinata. She couldn't really compare that to Gaara anyway since they were more like polar opposites, but hopefully this 'vacation' would turn out okay.

Gaara's voice halted her ponderings, "I didn't think you were the type to enjoy frightening the locals."

Shrugging she began the accent up the rickety stairs, "Hey I have to get some kind of entertainment around here," she defended and opened the unlocked door to her apartment, "Well; I guess welcome to your new home for the next week and a half," she said cheerfully.

He stood at the door for a while before walking through the doorway slowly, probably checking for traps like any shinobi would. Meanwhile Sakura let the breath she'd been holding out and followed him in, relieved he didn't read too much into her comment.

_WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW_

It had only been a week since Gaara had moved in and already Sakura could see herself changing in ways she didn't exactly like. While it was great to have someone around to speak to whenever she chose, and vice versa, it was a bit offsetting to have someone around _all the time._ Sakura had always told herself that she was a creature of change and new situations, but this one took the cake.

There were other positives to this new living arrangement, one being the great sex all the time, she'd never admit it aloud but she hadn't enjoyed it this much since Sasuke and that had been years ago. Quite frankly it was down right addicting, screw drugs and alcohol, they had nothing on the man with the shadowed eyes and kanji on his temple.

And speaking of drugs and cigarettes, she hadn't touched them since he moved in. He never asked her not to do it, and she wasn't particularly sure why she felt the need to _not_ annoy him. It was her apartment after all but pissing off a jinchuuriki who wasn't all that bad once you got to know him, wasn't exactly a wise idea in her opinion.

Gaara didn't seem to possess many annoying habits she soon found out. The only one was that he was entirely too quiet and often snuck up on her when she least expected it.

As the days went by he seemed to become less 'if you touch me I'll kill you' and more 'if you touch me I'll touch you back' which worked out okay. If Sakra had to guess, she'd say it had something to do with the amount of sleep he was getting in. Considering that beforehand sleep meant meditation, after a couple of days or real sleep his chakra reserves were higher than ever. But thankfully the shadows around his eyes remained intact, she would never tell him was that his eyes were damn sexy.

Sakura snuggled deeper into the covers trying to hide from the little bit of sunlight entering her window. The other occupant of the bed moved slightly slipping his arm under her shirt to wrap it tighter around her warm waist. Curtains; she decided, were a very good thing indeed. She always had them, along with other miscellaneous furnishings, but she just stashed them in the closet after house keeping became a chore. Simple was always better she always said, so after a few months of living in comfort, she boxed everything up and kept the minimal needed to be at peace.

After Gaara moved in, she found herself pulling more and more things out of what Gaara called _the void,_ aka her closet. The first had been her curtains and that was simply because if she didn't, the pervert who had peeked in on them would have been crushed by a tidal wave of sand. She pitied the fool who had even tried such a stupid act and hoped Gaara never ran into him in a dark alley. And so, the indigo curtains were put up and she couldn't remember why she parted with them in the first place, they were simply great for keeping out the sunlight and buying her a few more hours of sleep.

But perhaps the most rewarding new piece of information she had gained from moving in with Gaara was that he had a sweet tooth that could rival Naruto's. So when push came to shove, figuratively speaking, all she had to do was whip out some cookies and he was as good as putty in her hands. Well, not _really_ that compliant, but it sure helped her odds at winning a debate.

They hadn't left the apartment much only twice for groceries. Of course that didn't mean that they had been alone the whole time; Naruto had stopped by with Hinata once so that she could have a follow-up on her pregnancy. Hinata was more than capable of performing this task on her own, but Naruto being as overprotective as he could be, naggingly insisted that 'Dr. Sakura-chan' take a look just be sure.

Imagine his surprise when he walks in to Gaara shirtless in baggy pants and nothing else. What Sakura had thought would turn into one of the loudest shouting matches in Konoha history, actually became Naruto standing there grinning like an idiot while Hinata turned all kinds of shades of red. Needless to say, after getting a clean bill of health, Hinata dragged her dutiful husband out of the apartment and hadn't returned since.

She felt, rather than heard someone outside the window, and judging by Gaara's tighter hold on her waist, he felt it too. He hadn't been asleep of course, part of the deal was that while he got to sleep at night, he would in turn lay in bed next to her while she slept most of the afternoon away.

Had she been alone she would have already attacked, but the sound of sand slithering towards the window comforted her. A very familiar and obnoxious voice spoke making her sit up too quickly and dizzy.

"Whoa, damn little brother you sure don't waste any time do you?"

Kankuro and Temari stood at the foot of the bed, Temari with her mouth gaping wide in disbelief and Kankuro stopped his teasing and instead began stepping on the sand that was slowly wrapping itself around his legs. "Hey I was just joking Gaara give me a break!"

Temari, finally aware of the threat to her brother's life took notice of the sand and knocked him upside his head. "Apologize to your brother you jackass."

Kankuro, reluctantly pleaded, "Oh come on, release your sand Gaara, we have an important message from Suna."

At this Gaara sat up and glared at his siblings, "Leave."

"But Gaara," Temari protested, "this is really important! We have the last will and testament of the Kazekage."

"I don't care."

Temari sighed deeply into her hand while Kankuro shot her a look that said 'told you so'.

"Um...," all eyes turned to the last occupant of the room as if she had magically appeared, "Yeah um Gaara, maybe you should listen to what they have to say and then maybe they can try coming in the door when they visit us later on tonight."

Rubbing the back of his brunette head much in the same fashion as Naruto, Kankuro sheepishly added, "Yeah sorry about that Sakura-san, we were just in such a hurry we-

"It's alright Kankuro, perhaps you should talk to Gaara now that he's a bit less homicidal," she joked pulling the top comforter around herself and began making her way off the bed.

"Stay."

It wasn't a request but a demand and Sakura was still too sleepy to argue with Gaara so she just slipped back under the covers.

"But-

"Shut up and get to the point Kankuro, or I'm going to have to make you leave." It was surprising to hear Gaara be his old threatening self. He hadn't taken this tone in….well…. a week. Thankfully, the brains of the duo spoke up, "Alright Gaara, as you wish." It was a tad bit difficult to see over the thick white comforter, but Sakura could vaguely see Temari pulling something out of her sash resembling a scroll.

Taking uneasy steps closer to the blonde-haired woman handed it to Gaara, and although Sakura wasn't high enough to be able to read the contents, not that she wanted to, she could see the Kazekage seal already broken.

Tediously he unraveled it and began to read. Meanwhile she only listened to the steady breathing and soon found herself close to sleep. She fought the urge to pull him back down in the bed for a nap; she highly doubted that he was okay with public displays of affection in front of his siblings.

"I refuse."

Gaara's cold hard tone was back and it chased away her sleep. If he was in a bad mood she would have to be awake either to clean up the corpses or to stop him from turning them into corpses. Forcing herself to sit back up she lowered the comforter and sheets to her waist, grateful she had opted to sleep in Gaara's tank top instead of no top at all, a detail that didn't go unnoticed by the impinging visitors.

"What do you mean Gaara, you can't refuse the last will of the Kazekage," Temari remarked clutching her metal fan in front of her.

"I can and I will," Gaara argued, rolling the scroll back up and tossing it to Kankuro, who juggled it before finally gripping it.

"Gaara, please reconsider this is a high honor and the council desperately needs you to return," she tried again her knuckles turning white.

"I do not know why that bastard would choose me of all people to do this, and because I am still unsure, I will decline this _honor_. You already know what the council thinks of me so I am sure they can find a replacement."

"You know as well as I that they council cannot make such a decision without having you there to public decline this. And besides you know that the next Kazekage has to be of noble and royal birth."

Sakura couldn't help but let out a 'whoa' herself and all eyes once again fell on the bed head pink haired medic. Method of escape…… feign sleep, she told herself and closed her eyes ignoring the glare from her bedmate. Gaara was the Kage's son? Well this definitely had possibilities. Making the treaty with Jiraiya was going to be a piece of cake if they had the Kazekage right there with them.

After a deadly silence Gaara icy voice was heard, "In that case why don't you do it?"

This of course sent the kunoichi into a fit of 'uh and because' getting her nowhere fast. Kankuro chose to answer for her, "Because she's got a boy toy here in Konoha and can't be tied down to Suna or otherwise she can't- OW!"

"Kankuro if you value your life you're going to shut up right now!" Anger was apparently the quickest way of getting Temari back to proper speaking. "You know as well as I do that there is nothing going on between me and Shikamaru."

Wha?

Peeking with one eye Sakura could visibly see the pink spreading from her cheeks to her neck, she stifled a giggle, Gaara looked down at her, and she closed her eye quickly. Who would have ever thought Shika would take an interest in someone other than Ino? True Ino always was Chouji's girl but Shika could never hide the sparkle in his eye when he was around her.

"Oh give it a rest already Temari," Kankuro whined, "Your denial only makes it more true."

"Why don't you take the position," Gaara called from the bed and Sakura could easily picture Kankuro paling at the notion.

A familiar 'uh and ums' came from him before Temari jumped at the chance for revenge, "He won't do it because he cares too much about women and sake. There's no way in hell that the council will approve of a drunk horn ball. And we both know he's not exactly the most responsible guy in Suna."

Sakura expected to hear him defend himself much like Temari had but nothing. Fearing that Gaara had somehow strangled him she peeked again just to be sure and found Kankuro nodding his head with a sheepish smile on his face. Pig.

Sighing she closed her eye again and snuggled closer to Gaara, or what was still on the bed. These three were definitely fun, she only wished she could enjoy it more and not be exhausted from last night's activities. Was this what having a sibling was like?

"This conversation is over, tell Suna that I decline their offer, I will not be another figurehead for them to control."

"Well see Gaara, we would _love_ to leave but we had direct orders from the counsel to not leave Konoha without you," Kankuro reasoned.

Sakura unconsciously clutched Gaara's hand which was back under the covers, would he leave her? Would he not stay and help Naruto? The weird feeling in her gut was back with a vengeance and she found herself not breathing, scared of what was going to be Gaara's response.

His silence was killing her and apparently Temari also because she could hear the fan being rubbed deeper into her carpet.

"I have something to attend to at the moment and will not be finished with it for a couple of weeks," she felt him squeeze her hand back and she flushed under the covers. Yeah she had been freaking out but she didn't want to seem like the needy 'please don't leave me' type. Great now she was weak in front of him, shit.

"If you two cannot leave without me, then I advise you to get situated here in Konoha until I have completed my task. If what both of you said of each other is true, then I am sure there will not be an objection to what I have proposed," Gaara finished coolly, and Sakura had to admit, this man could definitely become a kage.

"Hell yeah," Kankuro responded first, "I'm going to go see Meadow and see about scheduling her off for the next few weeks since Gaara here is busy."

"Meadow?" Sakura hadn't realized she said it outloud until he responded.

"Yeah, Amaryllis was real great but she kind of got scary with the whole shuriken and kunai business. Meadow seems more my type."

Temari light laughter gave Sakura the courage to peek out from under the covers, "What he means to say is that Amaryllis-

"Temari gods help me if you finish that sentence you will regret it," her brother said through clenched teeth.

The fan wielding kunoichi only laughed more waving her hand in dismissal, "Yeah whatever, just remember this little favor the next time I need something."

"I'm sure you'll remind me."

"Alright then Gaara, Kankuro and I will entertain ourselves for the next few weeks and I will send a message to Suna saying we will be back as soon as we are able. In the mean time though, if you need to contact one of us just use the summons."

Gaara nodded and the two made their way to the window, "We are terribly sorry for barging in here like this Sakura-san, I promise I'll make my pigheaded brother use the door next time."

"Hey!" Kankuro protested the insult.

"It's quite alright Temari, I didn't exactly mind the entrance, just the time, I'm a bit of a night owl," Sakura replied hoping that she'd be able to get a nap in before lunchtime. "Feel free to come by whenever you like."

"Don't."

All three looked to Gaara and he glared at his siblings, "Don't take her politeness seriously, I don't expect to see you two until I have finished things up here."

Kankuro let out a mock cheer, "Alright Gaara! Getting laid and being all possessive, don't worry we won't-

His sentence was cut off since Gaara's sand had wrapped around his ankle and thrown him out the window, Temari's fan caught him just in time. "Don't worry Gaara, I'll keep him away from here, it was nice seeing you again Sakura-san."

"Likewise."

With one leg out the window she turned back towards her little brother, "And Gaara, I just want you to know that-

"Save it."

She smiled not bothered at all by the rudeness of his comment, probably because she expected it, and jumped out the window.

"Well, that was interesting."

"Hm.."

"Can I go back to bed now?"

"Hmm."

"Oh thank the gods," Sakura said before pulling the covers back over herself and Gaara. Standing at dreamlands door she was rudely pulled back by her watcher, "You're not going to nag me about what Suna asked of me?"

Wondering if she could get away with already being asleep she fought the notion and mumbled something along the lines of, "Nah, unless you want me to."

Which was true, she couldn't convince him to accept the position, that was his own choice to make and if he didn't want to do it then so be it. Screw Suna. Besides she wasn't in a good enough mood to try and be convincing of anything.

He said nothing and she was glad to be able to sleep, she never heard his last remark.

"I'm glad you're not like that."

_UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU_

**Last sentence, another meaning? Hmmm.. maybe, maybe not.**

**Ku ku ku : ) Another one down and a bit longer too! I already know what the next chapter shall contain so it should be out soon. I'll go ahead and tell you, it's shorter and a horrible cliff hanger Just a warning loveshinobi4eva!**

**XxShadow-Or-LiesxX- Maybe!**

**DarkAngel Rose XS- Thanks! Maybe you'll like this one too : )**


	13. The Fall

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Message**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Sakura had never woken up to the smell of food being cooked that wasn't ramen. So when the alluring scent of food, and good food at that, found her she begrudgingly went to freshen up before heading towards the kitchen. The nest that once was smooth pink hair was crying for a brush but she just ran her fingers lightly through it, Gaara wasn't exactly the type to care what she looked like anyway.

Pulling at the black t-shirt that was three times to big for her frame she rounded the corner and froze at the sight of many containers of takeout on the kitchen table and Gaara already digging in. "I thought you said you would never do take out?"

He didn't even stop his eating and she only shrugged before sitting down on the opposite side grabbing the chopsticks. 'Who cares,' she thought to herself. She was finally getting something other than her and Gaara's attempts at cooking, which weren't too great considering her specialty was ramen and cookies and his was basic and simple shinobi dishes.

Grabbing the closest box to her, she opened it and helped herself, "How did you know where to call?"

"There was a number on your refrigerator door," he said after swallowing his mouthful.

Looking towards her kitchen, there was indeed a business card held up with an immature cow magnet. How in the hell it had made its way there was indeed a mystery, both the magnet and the business card. "Did the delivery boy say anything to you? I've been trying to get that poor boy to speak or at least take my money but he pretty much throws the food at me and runs."

Where those sweet dumplings? Her mouth watered, oh yeah, Gaara had definitely caught on to her eating habits.

"I did not have that problem; in fact he was too talkative for my tastes so I gave him extra to leave."

How in the hell had he managed to get a word out of him? She'd been trying to get him to speak to her for over three years! Was it-

"It would be wise for you to close your mouth when there's food in it."

Sakura snapped her jaw shut, not sure when she had let her jaw drop in the first place. "That's so unfair."

"What is?"

Sighing she took a bite of sushi instead, "Nothing." Looking into the next box, she stopped for a second before looking through the other ones also. She would have laughed aloud if she could have gotten away with not having to explain herself. Was that gizzard? Sakura was well known for having strange eating habits, that mainly being that she ate just about anything. But what really made people uneasy about her meals was how she would eat something that didn't really belong with something else. Ino had commented that she ate like a pregnant woman when she always ate breakfast foods for dinner and lunch at breakfast and then sometimes all together.

But apparently she had found her match with Gaara who also ate a variety of weird dishes. Come on, salted tongue for breakfast? Her amusement did not slip past the Ichibi, but he wisely didn't say a word. Sleep, food and sex were the things that this woman had to have frequently and plenty of, and she also didn't like disruptions during any of them. Not that he particularly cared about keeping her happy, he just didn't want her going back to her old habits while he was still here.

Finishing with his share, he discarded the empty boxes and headed towards the bathroom with clothes. He smirked at his success of his mission: lure the pink haired woman out of the bed with food.

They had an appointment with the Jiraiya today and tardiness was never acceptable. Climbing into the tub, he let the spray of cold-water wash over him grateful that it was cold instead of scalding today. The plumbing here was one of the strangest he'd ever seen. It was rare to get an in between and the safest bet was usually cold over hot. After a quick shower, he dressed into some loose black pants, fishnet shirt and then a black long sleeved shirt over it. Sliding the door open, he found Sakura already dressed sitting on the bed with her legs crossed.

He studied her attire a moment before going to retrieve his gourd and strap it on. The woman had already sensed his stare and read his thoughts, "I don't particularly like wearing kimonos, but Jiraiya will lecture me to no end about how I should try to put more effort into my appearance when I'm in the Hokage office. Trust me; it's just easier if I suffer a few hours like than listen to his bullshit."

Standing she let pulled the black silk kimono down before habitually fixing her hair that she had pulled back into a knot. It was odd seeing her in clothes, or rather clothes that covered her entire body, the last time she'd been this formally put together had been the Uzumaki ceremony. It had only been a week ago, yet it felt like more time had passed since then.

"Why are we going to the Hokage office?"

She huffed and put her arms down from her hair, "Jiraiya says that it's the safest place to discuss matters regarding a treaty. But the truth is that he likes sticking close to the tower incase someone should target his sensei Sarutobi-sama, he still hadn't quite recovered from the last attack launched by Orochimaru."

"Hn."

They left the apartment and made their way towards the tower. It was odd actually being out during daylight hours, he hadn't been outside during the day all week. Sakura as always, took his arm, led him to the tower, and gained them access at the gate. The two ABNU at the door didn't even question their purpose only nodded respectfully towards the pink haired woman.

Reaching a large red door Gaara could already hear the loud chatter of Uzumaki Naruto and the deep laughter of Jiraiya. 'They were probably drinking.' Walking into the room after Sakura, his suspicions were correct when he saw several bottles of sake all over the massive oak table.

"Naruto what a surprise, I didn't expect you here," she said before Naruto seized talking and ran over to hug her. Gaara hadn't realized he'd glared at him until the blonde stopped two steps away from her arms still open.

"Oh, yeah sorry about that Gaara, old habits die hard," he muttered.

Sakura turned back towards him surprised and he only shrugged before unlatching the gourd and seating himself next to Jiraiya. They started drafting and it didn't take very long for Sakura and the kyuubi to get in a heated discussion about the best way to 'word' something and she retaliated by giving him a new knot on his head. Gaara's opinion was only important during certain matters and he was content with only listening to them do the work and watch.

"She's just like her mother," Jiraiya whispered quietly to himself unaware that Gaara had heard him. It was strange seeing such a powerful old man with emotion in his eyes. He'd never met Sakura's mother, only seen a picture of her back in Suna, but from what he could see there was absolutely no resemblance between them, so the old man must have been talking about her personality. Gaara turned back to look across the table at Sakura laughing genuinely at something the blonde had said twirling the bottle of sake in her hand.

Naruto slid a scroll across the table to him, "Hey man, what do you think about this one, will that old hag of yours go for it?"

"Naruto! That's not her name, it's Chiyo," she yelled and the kyuubi cowered quickly, "Geez, I'm sorry, all old people are the same to me."

Taking the scroll, he read over it carefully and then reached for a pen and made a few corrections.

Meanwhile Jiraiya was having trouble not laughing at the sight of someone correcting Sakura's work, oblivious to the deadly intent from across the table. It had been a weird twist of fate indeed to have the past Kazekage's son with them for the drafting. Although Sakura had said that he declined the offer to become the next in line, he would still help with the draft and with proposing it in a way that Suna would find beneficial to them. His name and the fact that he was a jinchuuriki would add a lot of weight to the proposition also.

Taking another sip of sake he watched as the Ichibi interacted with the other two at the table. Glancing at Naruto, he wondered if he noticed how Sakura kept finishing Gaara's sentences. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was not an airhead with everything and in fact, he was usually pretty good and picking up people's emotions and body language. He'd have to ask him about it later, the Ichibi had actually corrected Sakura again and he wanted to see her reaction. Did she just smile? Hell was going to freeze over.

It was obvious from the day at the wedding that Gaara was only comfortable around these two, and now he seemed even more at ease around them, Sakura a bit more though. Jiraiya silently mused if Gaara knew the real reason why he did.

The Ichibi vessel had turned out to be a great asset to Konoha and he owed Sakura for ever mentioning brining him here. He was smart, deadly and had the patience of a god if he was friends with 'loud mouth' and 'temper'. The night of the wedding he had easily seen through Jiraiya's drunken front and when he approached him remarked, "Drop the act," before jumping right into business.

He was fine man indeed and he hoped he would be of service to Konoha in the civil war that was about to take place; and to help heal Sakura's own insecurities. Judging by how he had practically growled at Naruto for attempting to hug her and by how he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, something told him that maybe he was helping her as well as himself. A pair of aquamarine eyes promised him death and Jiraiya looked away chuckling anyway.

Naruto stood stretching in an exasperated manner, "Alright, I'm outta here, Hinata's gonna have my head if I'm not back by dinner."

All heads turned to the clock on the wall and it showed a quarter till six. "Good job Naruto, head on out I'm sure Sakura and Gaara won't mind finishing the last bit."

This time two pairs of eyes promised him death and Jiraiya visibly swallowed. "Heh. Heh. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, I'll be more than happy to help," he amended and the deadly waves seized. This time Naruto didn't even bother to hug his beloved Sakura-chan and instead just waved to them all before slamming the red door behind him.

"Idiot." "Brat." "Hn."

Sighing Sakura looked over the drafts before handing them the pervert, "Here, we have it done we just need you to make sure everything we've promised can actually be followed through with."

Reluctantly parting from his sake, which she snatched away immediately, he grabbed the scroll and began reading. "Whoa, you three did a really good job on this, if I didn't know that you'd beat my head in Sakura, I'd recommend you for the new council position that just opened."

"Ha. Ha," she said sarcastically. "We're done so we're outta here," she said stretching in the same manner Naruto had and this time Jiraiya was positive he knew exactly what the look in Gaara's eyes meant. He chuckled inside, not stupid enough to do it out loud or face the wrath of two very strong and deadly-

"Take that leering grin off your face old man and don't put off finalizing the treaty. I want Gaara to have it as soon as possible," she ordered walking around the table and linking her arm through Gaara's who was relatching the gourd, "Ja ne."

"Right," he agreed and returned the maroon haired man's nod before the door closed behind them.

Their steps echoed down the empty corridor as they made their way back out. Sensing a weird chakra Gaara quickly preformed his third eye jutsu and sent the eye on its way. The chakra source was coming from another hallway back and he concentrated on it. Finding the said person, they eye reported back the image; it was the same woman he'd seen at the flower shop. Shizune, he believed, was dressed in a black hooded cloak with another person walking next to her in the same attire. And together entered the same office they had just occupied.

Dispelling the image, he decided to not tell Sakura, but he would question the sennin later. It was already dark out and he wondered if she was going to make him stop to eat out again. They hadn't done so since the last incident, but she had a weird way of getting into 'moods' and then following through with them. Thankfully, they made it back to the apartment without comment and she immediately began taking off her clothes and heading towards the kitchen.

"Damn, it looks like we're going to have to do take out, we're running low on groceries again," she called out from the kitchen. Following suite, he too deposited the gourd near the recliner and pulled off the long sleeved shirt. The only thing constant in her apartment was the temperature of the rooms, all rooms but the bedroom were a warmer temperature, while the bedroom remained a bit cold. He suspected it had something to do with the fact that she liked sleeping under large overbearing comforters.

He could hear her dialing and placing a very large order, which made sense considering they'd skipped lunch, but he wasn't even close to being hungry. He leaned in the entryway watching her count off items of food with her fingers as she talked, "Oh yeah and could you add two orders of gizzard for me please?"

His eyes roamed over her exposed flesh, only covered by a lacy bra and black thong, a far cry from what she use to wear.

"Yes, gizzard," she repeated into the phone.

"Yeah okay, thanks again!" Ending the phone call, she set the cordless on the counter before leaning against him.

"We have half an hour," she raised her eyebrows suggestively, "Have anything in mind that we could do?" Her question may have been innocent, but her actions sure as hell weren't as they were currently undoing his pants and then kissing his neck.

Gaara wasn't one for playing games, or for being the submissive one, so he easily finished disposing her of her clothes, before lifting her up and sitting her up on the kitchen counter. It was a very good thing indeed that they didn't cook or things could get messy fast.

She pulled the fishnet shirt over his head before returning to kiss his jawbone. Before things could get any further, a large black hawk flew in through the open window in the living room. He chose to ignore it, but when Sakura saw it, she instantly paled and maneuvered her way down. She ran to the bird and took whatever was in its beak before turning around alarmed, "Gaara get dressed immediately we have to get to Hinata _now_."

She petted the bird twice and then ran down the hallway towards her room pulling her hair down as she went. Begrudingly Gaara readjusted his pants and shot the hawk a dirty look before bending down to grab his shirt. He could distinctly hear lots of movement down the hall but put on his outer shirt and gourd before going to her.

Turning into the hallway, he could already see boxes and open ones with stuff coming out of them. The bedroom wasn't much better and he was positive she had dragged everything out of the black hole she liked to call her closet. He could barely see her over one of the boxes, but when he heard her victory 'ah ha!' she popped up and smiled.

That damn smile of hers was having an interesting effect on him as of late, and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to interpret the meaning. "Find something?" he asked monotonously and she just nodded with more vigor.

"Come here," she said looking around for a place to sit and then decided on the bed. "We don't have much time, but I need another favor to ask of you," she placed a medium sized mahogany box in front of him.

"Whenever you decide to go back to Suna, I need you to stop by the monastery in River Country that Kakashi sensei and I stayed at and take them this box. Inside is a large portion of the money I've earned since coming here, and even though it isn't 'pure' money, I wanted to repay them for everything they did for me," he could tell she was troubled by the way she glanced more around the room that at him. "There's a map in there to help you."

"Alright."

"Really?" she asked disbelievingly before jumping over the box and hugging him. He was partially grateful she had on a shirt and real underwear. "Thank you so much."

Remembering her earlier rush, she disengaged herself and began looking through the drawers for something before pulling out the rosary. She twirled the beads a few times in her hand before opening the box and placing them in it. "Heh, I've had these for far too long anyway," she said to herself.

Breathing deeply she went back to the closet and pulled out shorts, shin guards, boots and a skirt that went over the shorts. Pulling out a worn bag, she loaded up most of the kunai, sebon, bandages and shuriken before putting it on. "Are you ready?" she asked over her shoulder as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail.

"Yes."

"Great, lets' go," she replied before going to the bedroom window and opening it and dropping down outside. Gaara followed suite and kept pace with her as she lead them deeper into Konoha. It was odd seeing her in this manner, it didn't help she was wearing an incredibly short skirt that showed her long ivory legs. As far as he knew she was warm natured and the chilly October winds showed no mercy. Her speed was ridiculous and he was actually having to put forth the effort to keep up.

"What's going on?" he asked after getting close enough to converse without drawing attention to the two figures flying by the city.

She looked surprised that he had spoken and blinked rapidly a few times before responding, "Oh; um…our flower shop isn't just a flower shop," they landed on the rooftop of a pharmacy before jumping off again. "Few of the elite shinobi here in Konoha use an ancient language of flowers to communicate with each other without having to resort to code."

That would explain the excessive amounts of freezers on the lowest floor…..

"It was very popular when Konoha was first established, but more sophisticated methods were developed and it took a long time to learn the language of flowers. So only a few actually know of it and even less know how to use it."

Gaara observed that this part of the city, although deserted, looked more prosperous than the rest of it. "Anyway, it was a requirement when I started at Ivy's so everyone you've seen there uses it. It is a fairly simple method, all you have to do is tell one of the trained hawks which flower and they retrieve it. Neji gave us full permission to use his collection of hawks for these tasks and the one that visited us is only used by Hinata," she said clenching her fist and increasing her speed.

"And the two flower petals that he held in its beak weren't good news."

"What do they mean?"

"The first was from an achillea, which stands for war; and the other was a black rose petal that symbolizes………death or someone is in a lot of danger," when they landed on a red roof toped house she stopped. "I'm glad you're with me Gaara," she whispered before jumping down to the ground bellow.

The modest house was surrounded by gardens on all sides and the different fragrances assaulted his sensitive nose. How could Uzumaki stand such smell? The pink haired woman once again running full speed, slid the front door open, and ran inside. Gaara followed, only not as hasty and found Hinata sobbing miserably on the floor with the bun haired girl rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hinata! What's going on? Who's hurt?" Sakura continued her panicked babble while the indigo haired woman cried harder, he placed a hand on her shoulder and she slowed her questions finishing lastly with "Is it the baby?"

Hinata sniffed and wiped her eyes with her palms, "No…….sensei you have to help him," she said shakily.

"Help who Hinata, tell me," Sakura encouraged.

"It's Naruto sensei; Akatsuki's has Naruto."

_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

BWAHAHAHAHA So how evil am I? Wasn't that a great cliff hanger? I like to think so.

SO before you kill me, let me go ahead and tell you WHY I did this….. You see from here on out it's going to be really 'in your face, oh my god' and I wanted to take a breather before heading into it. As you can see I didn't follow through with my earlier claim that this chapter would be short, I added some fluff in there since people are about to die really fast. See you should be happy….. No? oops. Well it works in my head lol.

Gizzard and salted tongue are Gaara's fav foods according the data book, and sweet dumplings Sakura's.

Ja ne- goodbye

LoveShinobi4eva- lol your reviews always crack me up. Spanish can be fun, but Japanese is even better! I hope you're not too mad for this cliffhanger dodges objects he he, well, I'll try to have the next chapter up by the weekend k?

fLcLFFxlovr- thanks I was worried about that

DarkAngel Rose XS- You're absolutely hilarious, I was lmao when I read your review. When I picture Kankuro I just see him as a dick, therefore, I write him as one ) And yes you are correct Gaara, was asked to become the Kazekage but he's like "no way I'm too hot to cover up this body!" lol. It's soooo true what you said about real life men compared to anime ones! sobs T - T Why oh why can't we have real life Gaaras and Itachis running around? WHY! coughs so yeah, I know I totally agree with this one, my significant other is like 'you're living in a dream world, and I already know that you would choose your anime boys over me any day' lol Damn straight! Like he doesn't oogle Tsunade --


	14. The Gain and The Loss

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Gain and The Loss**

**Disclaimer: I own nada…**

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The world was spinning as Hinata's words rang through her ears. There had to be some kind of mistake, Akatsuki wasn't suppose to go after Naruto until after they had her. Damn, what the fuck was going on!

"Tenten, explain **now**," Sakura managed through grit teeth.

Tenten looked down at Hinata for approval "NOW TENTEN!" She shouted and the other girl jumped while Hinata resumed crying.

"I don't exactly know all the details, but from what the ABNU told us, two Akatsuki members encountered Naruto outside of the Hokage tower and they talked-

"Talked," Sakura parroted.

"Yes, and then he just followed them and ANBU reported here," the weapons mistress finished flinching at the other woman's rage.

"WHAT?" Sakura punched the floor causing most of it to collapse under her deadly fist, "You mean to tell me that there was an ANBU on duty and didn't _do_ anything to help him? What a fucking coward, I want his name and I want his head! Tell me who's been alerted and what has been done."

Tenten cradled the pregnant woman protectively, "Jiraiya-san has already been informed as well as all the main families, we have them gathering at a designated location and awaiting orders."

"Good, have a squad of six worthless ANBU escort Hinata to the Hyuuga manor, I'm sure Neji is expecting her. Then join the rest of the forces and I will send a message whenever we require back up, I'm sure Jiraiya is already headed there."

"Right."

"And if Shizune is with the main families, tell her to go to Hinata, this stress can do a lot of damage to the baby and she needs a sedative immediately."

"Right," Tenten affirmed again and began picking up the sobbing woman.

Two men in ANBU uniform came running through the door and immediately bowed, but Sakura wasn't in the mood, "Rise. I need you to gather a squad of six and escort Hinata to the manor. Should anything happen to her, I just want you to know that she is the future Hokage's wife and he will be very pissed off to discover that the ANBU are not doing their duty. If any of you hesitate to put yourself in danger again for the lives of this family I will make sure you will never be a shinobi again."

Synchronized 'yes mam' met her ears and she nodded to Tenten before running out of the house again and taking to the rooftops. Gaara's soft landings from behind reminded her that she wasn't quite alone. She wasn't thinking straight and it was getting harder and harder to focus. The new adrenaline rush only made her increase her speed. "You don't have to come with me; this isn't what we agreed on."

"I know."

Akatsuki headquarters was already insight; the looming main tower had once been used as a lighthouse. The main compound around it was mostly full of traps and for the most part remained unoccupied. She'd only been here twice, but she was confident she could navigate them to where they would probably have Naruto held. Reaching the large soil wall that surrounded it, she turned back towards Gaara.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" 'Please don't back out on me I'm going to need all the help I can get,' she thought growing anxious.

"I will not tell you again," he replied eyes fierce as he reached for the cork; "I don't do anything, that I do want to."

Nodding she turned back towards the wall and gathered her chakra, it was only a 30ft wall, most likely 6ft thick so not too much was necessary. It was an 'escape by soil' jutsu that was cast by Sir Leader and as long as he was alive, he would continue to feed charka too it to and ensure no one would trespass. She closed her eyes, punched the wall with her charka infused hand, and felt some of the wall give. Waving the dirt in the air away from her face, she could faintly see Gaara's silhouette behind her.

Her blow went all the way through and was about 8ft high, there was no one on watch but chakra traps were everywhere alerting the first defense. Heh, their leader was sure to have felt that, she though smugly before walking through and hearing her partner behind. They entered the open building swiftly and the large empty room contained several Akatsuki wannabes that served them in hopes of one day joining. It was a large empty warehouse looking room and after scanning the room twice, she estimated 40.

"Go," Gaara told her from behind. Nodding once, she put chakra in her legs before jumping and landing behind the majority of them. Using only her fists, she disposed of the remaining lackeys around her. Opening the large metal doors, she ran down the large impeding corridor with many doors, some of which would lead to illusion jutsus. Entering a smaller adjoining room that would lead to the heart of the compound, she was surprised to see two burning carcasses and the room in ruins. Upon closer inspection, she was relived to see that it was not anyone on her side, but Tobi and Zetsu, two of the ten Akatsuki members. No loss here, those two were annoying and creepy as hell. The crackling of the fire consuming their bodies gave away their killer; the smell of oil that belonged to Jiraiya signified that he was already here.

Jiraiya hadn't been in battle for quite sometime, but Sakura suspected that when he was allowed to fight again, he would vent out all the frustration of being tranquil. Two gone, plus the one that had been tortured and killed by Konoha families three months ago, only left seven. Not very good odds but it did mean that they would have to take longer to extract the Kyuubi. Running through the still opened door she barely managed to dodge the kunai shot at her in the dark.

She knew these kunai that were bound by chakra strings, only a master puppeteer could fathom such a deadly technique. A hundred torches came to life, lighting the dome center. On the middle of the stone floor stood Hiruko, the hunchback looking puppet with his poisoned tail swaying behind him, the Akatsuki cloak dragging. She could make out a body behind him also in a traditional black Akatsuki robe with blonde hair.

'No; Deidara.'

"You bastard, how could you kill your own partner," she grounded out and he only pissed her off more by laughing.

"Why? Or how? Why? Because he was a traitor to our organization, I always thought he was far to smitten with you. If you want to know how I ended his pathetic life I'll tell you."

"Fuck off."

"Watch your language you whore!" he yelled before calming his tone, "Besides we should be celebrating our reunion, no?" the puppet spoke in an all too familiar voice, but no quite its master's. "Don't look so gloom, dearest cherry blossom, that only gives you wrinkles," he chided.

"Not all of us have puppet bodies Sasori, I know that my wrinkles just mean I'm human."

"Human? You?" he chuckled darkly, "Oh dear, who have you been associating yourself with now days, honestly you of all people should know you're not human."

"Shut the hell up Sasori, my patience is wearing thin right now," she threatened slipping her hand back into her pouch and grabbing hold of several kunai. "Tell me why they took Naruto."

The puppet dropped its jaw and several needles of poison came spiraling out, she shot out her kunai, reflecting them all and jumping up over the gas that she knew would come after. Turning in the air, she jumped over Hiruko and landed behind him raising her fist, a scythe swiped at her from below and she dodged it, aiming for his back again. His tail swung fast and pierced her shoulder causing her to wince and land.

"Well, I must admit you aren't too bad," he complimented pushing the tail blade deeper into her shoulder joint. "But you're going to have to do much better than that if-

Sand began covering her entire body and Sasori was forced to retrieve his tail or lose it. The sand sphere teleported back towards its wielder standing at the open doorway, and then disbanding showing the pink haired woman healing her shoulder.

"Gaara," she breathed, "I need you to go through the door behind Sasori and stay straight down the hall taking the last door on the left. It's a stairwell, go all the way down and there you'll find Naruto." The green chakra on her hand ceased and she turned to look at the sand shinobi who was torturing the puppeteer with his eyes.

Hiruko's tail began swaying again, "Gaara? What lovely presents you bring us Sakura, Sir Leader will be pleased."

"The only thing I bring him is a kunai that I'm going to stick right between his eyes," she shot back before taking a fighting stance. "Go."

"I can handle Sasori of the red sand; he is a traitor to my village."

Well, this wasn't good, she hadn't planned on Gaara of all people to question her. "I know his techniques from all the years of his fun he put my body through," she reasoned and she smiled when Hiruko tail stopped swaying.

"What's wrong Sasori? Did you think I was letting you do all that shit to me without learning your styles and weapons?" the puppet growled before sending another wave of kunai at the two. A wall of hardened sand stopped them from reaching their goal, behind the wall Sakura turned to him. "Please go, I know that I can kill him and besides I owe him one."

"Fine, if you don't show up within half an hour I'm coming back up here," he said before letting his sand drop. "Thanks Gaara," she whispered as she jumped to the wall with chakra on her feet and ran straight up.

Gaara watched her go before heading towards the door behind the missing nin. "If you kill her I'll make your life a living hell," he told the overbearing puppet as he passed him and then went through the door. The torch lit hallway was narrow and dank with many turns but no doors. Seeing a still body up ahead on the floor he dispatched his sand to inspect and found the man was dead. He was dressed in a black with a single red cloud stitched to he left arm signifying allegiance to Akatsuki, just another mindless servant he thought distastefully before stepping over him.

Continuing to follow the hall, he turned the corner and saw more and more dead bodies as he went, all with poisoned darts sticking out of their necks or hearts. When he reached the door, he found it already open, it didn't feel like trap but he was still hesitant when he reached the stair well.

There were more dead bodies in the stairwell, only this time their cause of death was also by the crushing of skulls and ribcages, blows that probably targeted the heart. A great amount of strength was needed for this kind of attack and he wondered who else was here besides Jiraiya. Descending many levels, he reached the bottom with an illusion cast on the doorway, much like the flower shop. The ground shook suddenly and he could hear yelling on the other side. The words were muffled but they were definitely feminine.

Dispelling the jutsu he watched in the intense battle raging inside. A man with platinum hair swung an oversized scythe at a woman in a green jacket with 'gamble' written on the back. Tsunade, one of the 'Three' was here and very much alive. "Fuck! Shizune get the hell out of the way!" she yelled and Gaara noticed that Shizune was limping on her left leg and loosing large amounts of blood from her torso. She leaned against the closest wall and the Akatsuki chasing her came out of the shadows. His cloak flowed behind his as he began forming another sign with his hand. His high collar hid most of his face besides for a flash of bluish skin, and the waterfall hiate-ate on his forehead reflected the excessive lighting from above.

Looking around he didn't see Naruto or anyone else for that matter, scanned the rest of the room for another door, and found none. Tsunade made a dash for the fallen woman and managed to get her out of the way before a tidal wave of water hit her. Another loud explosion shook the entire facility and more than half of the southern wall collapsed. A familiar head of white abundant hair flew in through the hole with an orange clothed body tossed over his shoulder.

"It's about damn time you lecher, what the hell were you doing in there? Find a woman to grope!" Tsunade yelled towards him while dodging the scythe again.

Gaara had never seen him in such a weak condition and looked ready to collapse, "Stop your blabbing woman, I got Naruto can't you see?"

"Well don't just stand there come over here and take Shizune so I can finish off this trash," she told him this time grabbing the scythe pole and swinging the man into a wall.

"Damnit Tsunade, does it look like I can do that! I got all of my charka sucked out of me by a damn shark who interfered in my battle, we need to retreat now not play around!" he told her again and locked eyes with Gaara who had walked out of the stairwell and towards him. With his sand, he took Naruto off his shoulder and deposited him on his own. "Is he alive?" he asked, wondering why Jiraiya's eyes had widened so much.

"Um, yeah……yeah kid, Naruto's alive just unconscious, poisoned and drained of charka," he told him with a smile patting his shoulder as he went towards Tsunade.

Tsunade who was fighting off the pissed off platinum haired man with Shizune on her shoulder turned to acknowledge Gaara for the first time, "Who's the brat lecher?"

Jiraiya took the body, "Now's not the time Tsunade do _that_ jutsu and let's get out of here."

She shrugged and punched the man sending him into the same wall. "Fine, get out of here I'll be right behind you."

"I'm going after Sakura," Gaara informed them heading back into the stair well.

"The hell you will!" The pigtailed woman yelled, "You heard the pervert, we leave now brat, she can take care of herself."

Gaara glared at the woman and felt the bujii within start releasing his chakra. Jiraiya intervened, "Calm down Gaara, if we find Sakura on the way out you can help her but it's not wise to go looking around the vicinity. I have three pissed off Akatsuki that are about to escape my jutsu and come through that large hole right there and one of them is the Sir Leader. We need to go and get these two medical attention or they'll either die or lose limbs. I'm sure this is what she would have wanted anyway," he told him his eyes downcast.

"Will you two get going damnit, I'm having a hard time over here. If it makes that much of a difference I'll look for the girl on my way out alright?" Tsunade called over her shoulder performing a summoning technique.

Biting his tongue Gaara took a deep breath before going back up the stairs jumping through the flights, Jiraiya not too far behind. Going back through the same hallways, he reached the door that would lead to the dome room and the silence was a bad sign. Opening the door, he found pieces of the puppet he'd seen last scattered everywhere, some even pinned to the wall with kunai. Most of the walls cracked and the floor was in no condition to be walked on. There was only one body and it wasn't Sakura's, it was Sasori's, the body however didn't even look human, instead that of a puppet with the likeness of a man no older than 20.

The pieces fell into place quickly after remembering why Sasori had angered the Suna council; he was a firm believer in turning the puppeteers into puppets and had apparently experimented on his own body. "She's not here."

"No I don't see her, but that just means she won, maybe she retreated," Jiraiya offered.

"No, she wouldn't have left until she knew that Uzumaki was safe," he told him and began walking towards the door.

"Gaara do me a favor and use your sand to locate the left hand of Sasori. He should have a ring on his left thumb and we need to take it with us."

Sending his sand out quickly he found the hand and slid the said ring off his finger, "Let's go."

They met no resistance upon leaving the compound and it was troubling. Akatsuki had more soldiers at their disposal, they could have sent some, but instead the compound resembled an empty cemetery. Reaching the large wall, they walked through the large hole still there and took to the rooftops.

"Will that woman be able to make it out alive?" Gaara asked, she had annoyed him to no end and it wouldn't make much of a difference if she lived or died.

"Ah, she should be able to handle herself, if we had stayed she would have been beyond pissed that we thought she needed our help," he replied before turning right sharply. They reached the Hyuuga manor quickly after more shortcuts and a squad of ANBU medical team hurried to attend to the wounded.

Gaara moved back towards the exit and Jiraiya's voice stopped him, "She wouldn't want you to go after her."

"That woman isn't going to bring her back is she?"

Jiraiya hung his head, "Don't go back there, they would have strengthened their guard by the time you show up. Wait with us and we'll come up with a strategy to get her back."

He said nothing but began walking towards the gate, "Gaara, if you go-

"Send me a message whenever you've come up with a solution to this," he called over his shoulder and the old man nodded letting the medic usher him into the house.

Walking into the street Tsunade landed in front of him and looked him square in the eye. "Do you always question orders?"

"I take orders from no one. I am not of Konoha and do not fall under your jurisdiction," he retorted not backing down from her glare.

Tsunade sighed deeply running a hand over her face, "Geez, generation after generation the brats seem to have less and less respect for their elders," dropping her hand she shrugged, "Oh well, wanna go get a drink?"

He blinked, and then blinked again. He'd hoped that at least one of the Sannin had turned out sane but apparently they were all equally weird. "I decline your offer," he said turning and walking away.

"Shizune filled me in on who you were, it took a while my memory is a bit bad, but I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."

He stopped and turned, "You were the ones at the Hokage Tower earlier today weren't you?"

She smiled, "So you sensed us did you, you are a good as they say. Tell you what, you answer a few of my questions and I'll answer yours," she offered and Gaara shook his head.

"It is of no consequence to me if you were there or not, therefore you have no bargaining potential," he calmly stated before turning and continuing back to the other side of the city. He could hear her growling behind him and smirked.

"Don't you want to know why I left her?"

Gaara's smirk fell and stopped.

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The bar wasn't crowded considering it was nearing closing time. He never thought he would see another person consume more sake, or be more possessive of their sake than Sakura. Apparently, there was a first time for everything. The woman, who in his opinion had a hairstyle not suitable for someone her age, swirled the bottle of sake around before taking another drink straight from the bottle. Was that genetic?

They had already been sitting in the secluded booth for half an hour just drinking, or this case _she_ was drinking, he was content with looking at the wall coming up with strategies and remembering the layout of the building.

"We were at the Hokage Tower to inform Jiraiya about Naruto's capture," she said suddenly, "We were visiting Hinata when the dark soldier came to notify us, and I demoted that pitiful ANBU," looking very amused, she continued to look out the booth's window.

"I was never meant to be a mother Gaara," she said solemnly and he caught the incredulous change in mood.

Taking another drink, she set the now empty bottle down and waved to the waitress for another finally looking at him. "I knew it was a mistake to help Orochimaru, I knew he wouldn't fulfill his promise. I was a stupid woman clinging to my past and made a mistake I paid for greatly," her eyes shifted to the window again and propped up her leg on the remaining seat. "You see Orochimaru restored my dead lover and brother."

Was that even possible? He didn't doubt that Orochimaru was capable of using forbid jutsus, but even that one had limits. "I had lost them a few years prior, I was depressed and that bastard used it to his advantage. I knew it was too good to be true but I thought why not? Why not bring them back to me?"

The waitress arrived placing two bottles of sake this time on the table and looked shyly towards him. Tsunade's booming voice shocked her, "Do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation here?" and caused her to juggle her tray before hightailing it out of there.

"So what happened," he heard himself say.

She hmphed, "Bastard brought back two dead bodies that looked like them but had no souls. I ended up having to kill them to end their misery. The only condolence I found was that I screwed up his perfect child before I left."

"How so?"

She took another drink and continued to swirl it on the table. "I played a major role in the genetic creation of the child. You may or may not know but she wasn't born, she was simply created in a generation tank. I kept him away from the project and it wasn't until she was completely developed that I allowed him to see her. He wasn't exactly too thrilled with the finished product but he took her anyway."

"I fail to see how this was really your victory," Gaara remaked, "Even if he won't inhabit her body, he can simply use her to pass on his genes to create another body."

The old woman tossed her head back laughing, and he wasn't too pleased, but more confused than pissed. "Well, yes I can see how you and even _he_ could think that. But before I handed her over I tweaked her reproductive genes so that they would fail at the age of 12, before she could even become fertile. I couldn't have done it right away you see, or his medical staff would have caught onto it early."

"He could just heal them," he countered.

"Not quite, you see by making sure that her organs would fail on their own at an early age, her body naturally begin to shut them down permanently before he even thought of using her in that way. Only a medical-nin genius could figure out how to repair something of that magnitude, and to my knowledge there is no one that can fix what I've done."

They both said nothing for a while and the owner and waitress ushered everybody remaining out of the bar. "I left her because I couldn't stand to look at my sins everyday. I could offer her nothing, I wasn't mother material, and I was selfish, crude and a horrible person. I still am."

"I couldn't exactly kill her either," she mumbled polishing off one of the bottles. "Don't get me wrong, I didn't love her or nothing," she sighed dramatically, "I have a problem when it comes to work, I like putting everything into it and making everything turn out perfect. In regards to her, I made her damn near immortal and even I would have a problem killing her."

If one of the three legendary shinobi was sitting here telling him how _she_ would have a hard time, he would have had a hell of a time fulfilling his mission. She may not have been able, but she also wasn't a bujii vessel, and if Gaara had fought her, he probably would have had to resort to using Shukaku. It was odd how things worked out they way they did.

With both elbows on the table she put her head in her palms, "Thank you for your time Gaara, I'm glad she found someone she at least showed interest in during her last days. I was beginning to think that she would never recover from Sasuke."

He uncrossed his arms, clenching his fists tightly, "She's not dead yet, so refrain yourself from talking about her that way," he managed through clenched teeth and she looked over her clasped hands confusion in her dazed drunken eyes. "Just how long have you been here anyway? From what she told me that incident happened years ago," he questioned ignoring her 'found someone' bullshit.

Her eyes focused a bit more before answering, "Shizune had been Kakashi's lover for sometime, and after his death I made sure Shizune became her guardian, bringing her back to Konoha. Shizune is my apprentice and she would send reports to me weekly telling me what was going on with her. I moved back here when the girl started working at the brothel and Sasuke appeared. I knew Orochimaru was going to make his move and I wanted to be around when he found out the truth."

There were many things he wanted to say to her, lash out and put her in her place, but all the rest he'd gained over the last week aided him in keeping his rage subdued. He wisely bit his tongue literally trying to contain the sand threatening to leak out of the gourd. It was time to go.

Sliding out of the booth he nodded once, only in respect to Jiraiya's and walked out of the bar, ignoring her thank you as he slipped into the lonely night.

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**AN: Okay, so finishing this story by Monday is not going to happen. I drafted some stuff up and there's still four more chapters to go. Considering it takes me two days a piece it's going to be a while --**

**So sorry Deidara! I didn't mean to kill you, truly I do love your character but I figured it best to die by your Danna's hand than by someone else. Oh and the puppet Sakura fault is the one she fought in the manga : ) if you want to know what it looks like go to wikipedia and look up sasori. **

**Does Tsunade seem heartless to anyone else besides me? I'm finding it incredibly difficult to write her any other way. shrug oh well! Getting pretty stressed over here with school starting back and there's still SO MUCH MORE TO REVIEL in this damn story cries Why won't the plot bunnies leave me?**

**loveshinobi4eva- thanks for your review doll, they keep me going! And I could listen to the Japanese voices of Sasuke and Itachi forever! Neji's working on getting up there too.sigh**

**I'm up to 40 reviews dances around Most reviews on a story yet! **


	15. The Missing Pages and Zepherus

**Konoha Nights**

**GaaxSaku**

**The Missing Pages**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing; these are not my characters.**

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_

The mahogany box sat staring at him on the kitchen table. Gaara with both arms crossed only glared back as he continued to wait for Temari and Kankuro to arrive to help him with the favor he'd agreed to. The apartment was the same as it had been two days ago when Sakura had last inhabited it. He'd mostly stayed in the kitchen strategizing and at night he would sit an meditate on the worn recliner that was oddly comfortable for something that looked like it belonged in the trash heap.

The bed no longer had a purpose and her belongings still lay scattered in her room. Although he avoided the mess, he was soon going to have to shove it back in the closet; there had been two disturbing chakras that circled her building a few times yesterday. He'd suspected that perhaps it had been members of Akatsuki and with a great deal of control on his part, he didn't' release his sand and initiate combat.

It was mostly due to the Ichibi's taunting that he desired to kill every member of Akatsuki anyway, and nothing to do with the fact that they had taken Sakura, or so he told himself. But surprisingly the inner rumbling of the demon didn't affect him as much as it use to, he no longer jumped at the suggestion to kill. It didn't seem to bother the Shukaku much that he no longer had much of an influence over him, and when Gaara told him to shut up- he did.

Admitting that the pink haired medic had been right with her assumption that Shukaku could be sated was unlike him. But things were sure beginning to look that way…Three other Suna natives had been jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, and all had been driven to insanity until he'd been expelled from them. Shortly thereafter they all committed suicide. Their journals and logs of their experiences with the demon showed that they all had tried several ways to appease him, but Shukaku was relentless and pushed for complete dominance. Gaara had been the most successful case yet and even he didn't come out unscathed. No one could have possibly figured out that he could have been somewhat bought off with lots of sex, the occasional bloody feast and the promise that Gaara would allow him complete escape for the retrieval of Sakura, which had been his suggestion in the first place.

The blood didn't come from hunting down Konoha natives, instead it came from a more willing victim. The blood seals she cast on him didn't hurt, and in fact let to sex in some instances satisfying two out of the three requirements. It had been the third night when Sakura first used her blood in addition to her seal. Gaara had never experienced REM until that night and found it odd to do so. When he meditated, his mind could touch on different things or nothing at all. But when he dreamt he had no control over what he was shown or experienced and it was refreshing to let his mind truly rest for the first time in his life and not raise hell in the process.

She'd been squeamish when he woke, saying she was sorry for having to use such a technique explaining that it actually allowed her to conserve her chakra and seal Shukaku at the same time. He licked the open wounds she inflicted on her palms and she shivered under his tongue. 'I don't mind' he'd told her and it had been the same ever since. The technique itself was something taught to her by Shizune, who mentioned it would be beneficial if Naruto ever lost control and she were around. While her sensei had taught her the technique, only Sakura had been able to administer it correctly.

He wondered if that old hag in Suna knew such jutsu, or if perhaps Konoha was simply more advanced in suppressing their bujii. The thought of Chiyo cutting herself for his sake was a joke. She was one of the most heartless people in Suna, therefore making her one powerful and much-feared elder. This all lead him to wonder why Sakura was so willing to bleed for him if his own Council wouldn't.

Temari and Kankuro arrived and he briefed them both on the two missions he needed them to execute.

"I'll go to the monastery," Kankuro responded, "We wouldn't want Temari here to be the first woman they see. Otherwise they'll think all women are as ugly and ow!"

Temari's fan never missed its target. "Stupid here can go to the damn monastery for all I care. Maybe they'll see how damned he is and keep him," she said glaring at the man rubbing his newly acquired bump. "Gaara, why is it that you need something taken there in the first place? I've never even heard of it."

"It's none of your business," he replied and Temari stiffened, "But if you must know I gave my word to someone that I would safely deliver this box. Since I will be unable to, for quite some time, I'd rather take care of it sooner than later."

Temari wasn't waiting for an answer and his admission caught her off guard. But as always Kankuro took things in stride and didn't keep his mouth shut like he was suppose to, "Oh I get it! It's that Sakura chick right? Wow, she's got you doing stuff for her now?" he asked amazed looking over the box he now held.

Kankuro never believed in fighting his curiosity and made the mistake of opening the box. "Woah! Check out all this money! Gaara did you-

His words and his breathing for that matter ceased when Gaara's sand wrapped around him in a strangle hold. The sand carried the box back to the table and he turned to Temari. "As much as I would rather you be the one to take this, I know that you have a greater influence in Suna. Deliver the message scroll directly to Chiyo and do not leave until she has assigned you 12 ANBU."

Temari's blank look wasn't one he was accustomed to and when his words sunk in she looked horrified, "What! Gaara you know as well as I do that Chiyou will never allow ANBU become subordinates of a Jounin and I-

"I've drafted up a treaty with Konoha that will benefit Suna immensely. The sooner she gives you shinobi, the sooner I'll get her the treaty," he calmly explained and she numbly nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. But why would we require dark troops here? Konoha isn't defenseless and we can take care of ourselves. What are you planning to do?"

He debated whether or not to even answer or send his sand to rattle her until she left. Being more tolerant was hard work, "The future Hokage is planning on taking back his city. He will require outside help to win and this will strengthen our bonds to Konoha. It should take you six days total but this battle could last weeks so you need to return as quickly as possible so that we may end it sooner. 12 dark troops aren't adequate, but it would not be wise to leave Suna short on available shinobi."

She clutched her fan tightly before nodding, "Right. I'll make sure Chiyo understands and we will rush back to aid you." She looked over towards Kankuro who was fighting against the sand in vain and turning blue. "Maybe you should put a seal on the box before you give it to 'irresponsible' over there," she suggested.

The sand started slipping back, "Kankuro will not be ignorant enough to trifle with something that does not belong to him," Gaara told her, "For he knows that if one ryu is missing, I'll have his head."

The now pale puppeteer nodded vigorously, "Of course!" he spit out still unconvinced that he was out of harms way. He straightened his black jacket and hesitantly grabbed the box again. "I'm heading out; I want to get this taken care of and back to-

"Sake, women and gambling," Temari supplied tucking the scroll Gaara had entrusted to her in her sash.

"Right!" he agreed exiting out the front door, "See ya in a few days Gaara. And Temari…..when you come back try to look more womanly an less butch, I'm sure Shika- FUCK!" He cursed closing the door behind him just in time to avoid the shuriken that embedded themselves in the plaster by the door.

Temari unclenched her fists and turned back towards her younger sibling. "Gaara, where is Sakura? Your chakra is the only one in the entire apartment," her tone was much softer and rare to his ears. He was use to brash Temari barking orders and nothing else.

"Akatsuki has captured her."

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before recomposing her slip. "I see…..and are there any plans being made to retrieve-

"Her friend, the future Hokage of the village is already taking care of it," his resentment coming with every word.

"And you're-

"I was asked to hold off any attacks and wait."

"Ah," she said looking around the room before turning her attention back to him, "You could go stay where Kankuro and I are staying. Shikamaru let us borrow one of the cabins on their deer fields."

The thought of staying anywhere else hadn't even crossed his mind until now. When he left the Hyuuga compound, his legs had naturally led him back here. Jiraiya had even known where he was, sending one of his messengers to deliver a message to him yesterday afternoon. The young boy with the overbearing blue scarf and green goggles had informed him of the situation and then bounced off…..literally. The hyperactive boy spoke an acted much like Naruto and Gaara wondered if he had corrupted anyone else or if his attributes were contagious.

"I'll stay here."

Temari was not on top of her game and allowed herself to look completely flabbergasted. Was the Shikamaru boy Kankuro kept mentioning responsible for such a change in his sister? The perfect kunoichi? Their father's pride and joy? Shikamaru may have to be eliminated…..

"Alright, I understand," she said smiled shakily at him before taking her leave… Understand what? He didn't know but waited for her to distance herself before making his way down the cluttered hall, and picking up the light boxes along the way. He entered the chaotic room and decided it best to see just what he was working with. There were only two brown boxes left in the far back and one was tipped over. He crouched down shifting the papers that had fallen out.

Their edges were frayed on one side and the paper was worn. The script looked messier than her writing now, but it was still hers. Concluding that these were the missing pages to her journal he went to put them back, after all it wasn't his business what was written there in the first place. However, the date on the top corner made him hesitate; if his numbers were right, that meant that this entry was from when Sakura was only 9 years old.

_Kakashi sensei gave you to me today and I have to admit I've never had a journal before. I'm not very good at writing my thoughts out but sensei said this would be good practice. I think he gave me a journal to keep me from asking about his orange book…. _

The first few pages continued in this manner, describing her life at the monastery, how she avoided being seen and often skipped out on her chores. On the back of the third page, the script seemed a bit off and a familiar name caught his attention. _Zephrus_, the name she suggested as an alias for him when they first met.

_Today was a horrible day. During training with sensei near the waterfall, I hurt him really badly. I know I always said I wanted to land a punch on him so he'd stop reading his book, but I never thought that I would actually do it, much less hurt him! _

_I don't know what happened exactly, one minute we were sparing like usual, the next he was face down in the water. I appoligized over and over and even helped to heal the injury. I felt so bad; I told him if he'd had a normal student he wouldn't have gotten hurt. But a normal kid wouldn't have had to be protected by an ex-ANBU captain in the first place._

Gaara began to wonder just how badly she'd hurt him to be frightened to this extent. Walking through the boxes, he sat on the bed and kept reading the manuscript that became less legible as he went on.

_He really understands me I think. He doesn't push me into doing things I don't want and best of all he doesn't test me constantly just to see how much I can take. I wish he wasn't so sad all the time though. The only times I've ever heard him laugh is when he has his nose in that damn book. I think it has something to do with losing his best friend in his last mission. Anko-san told me it was why he retired._

Although Copy-nin Kakashi was well known even in Suna, it was unknown what became of him after a mission in Grass Country. People assumed he had died in the line of fire, himself included. Shinobi, especially shinobi with his talent, didn't just disappear or give up that lifestyle.

_It's crazy but somehow Kakashi sensei ended up feeling bad for making me cry. So to make it up to me he told me I could have anything I wanted. Naturally, I asked for his orange book but he said he'd give me a story instead. _

_It was a myth from Grass Country he'd heard that took place long ago when people believed only deities controlled the lands and had tremendous powers. There was a nymph named Chloris who was the keeper of spring and flowers. It was said that whenever she opened her mouth, a simple breath could make flowers flourish. She was a kind beautiful woman who was loved by everyone she met but rarely smiled and was secretly lonely and unhappy with her life. Sensei said that she had pink hair like the spring Cherry Blossoms…..but I think he was just teasing me. Anyway, she felt trapped by her responsibility and her fate to be a lone deity for the rest of her life._

Sakura's alias had been this goddess she spoke of, perhaps it was her way of keeping the memories of her sensei close after his death.

_One day Zepherus, the Western God of the Wind came across the beautiful deity and kidnapped her, carrying her off on his winds back to his domain. Zepherus was intrigued by her saddened gaze and told her that he too knew the burden that came with being a god and how lonely it could be. Although Cloris resented him for taking her from her home and all that she knew, she fell in love with him and later bore him a child…Carpus and she gained dominion over spring._

Gaara turned to the next page ignoring the nagging in his head from Shukaku.

_This was the first story I'd ever heard that didn't have a moral to it or have a King Snake that always triumphed in the end by being clever and conniving- Kabuto had a weird way of telling me bedtime stories. Even though I don't believe in fairy tales and happy endings because it would be stupid to do so…..I ……I secretly hope that one day I'll be like the nymph Kakashi sensei described. Loved by everyone for simply existing and not because she had a special ability. And maybe….just maybe….I'll have a God like Zepherus that will come on his wind from the West and rescue me from my hell……_

_A girl can dream right?_

Gaara's stomach twisted uncomfortably. At 9 years old she already sounded like a grown up with no hope of being free from Orochimaru's grasp. It was a wonder she wasn't more psychologically damaged after experiencing all that she had by this age. Standing he shifted all the papers back like had found them. While he could see the possible connections she could have made to the story… like coming from the West of Konoha and a native of Wind Country….but the similarities stopped there. So why would she have chosen that name to want to give to him? She didn't look like the type to cling to a myth for over ten years in hopes of one day it could happen for her too, just in another situation.

Telling the Ichibi to shut up once again, he placed the ripped out pages back in the box that contained a red ribbon, a Leaf hiate-ate, and a few red dresses. Trying to do as best as possible and somehow get everything back into the void, he was rather relieved when the room was once again bare.

The familiar flapping of wings was heard and a raven hawk perched itself on the open window ledge. The tan parchment tied to its leg called to him and he untied and read it.

_Come now_ was all it said and he knew it was Jiraiya who sent for him. Strapping his gourd on hastily, he made it back to the Hyuuga compound in good time. It wasn't as lively as it had been a few days ago. The same boy with goggles and scarf ushered him into the main room that contained several of Konoha's most import people. He took the only empty pillowed seat next to Jiraiya that was unfortunately next to Tsunade.

There were 10 total, Uzumaki sat at the head of the table with two men in ABNU uniform with no masks next to him, one of them he recognized as Neji. Shizune was also among them, to her side sat a man with a beast in white fur sleeping behind him. There were a couple more he'd never seen before, but the one that struck him as odd was Shikamaru.

"I'm glad you could make it Gaara," Uzumaki's solemn voice stopped his analysis of the characters that had gathered. Gaara said nothing but looked to the blonde and could easily read his aura: miserable. Even the blonde hair that usually had a life of its own was dropping. Add to that blood shot eyes, hollowed face and he wasn't much of a leader at the moment.

For the next half hour he listened to Shikamaru instruct them with great detail on how they were to go about rescuing Sakura. It was the most he'd ever heard ever heard him say and apparently he wasn't the only one who was use to his silence. Everyone looked genuinely happy that he was talking as much as he was….A strategist was not one the things Gaara would have pegged him as, but the plan itself was flawless. He had even taken into account Shukaku as well as the Kyuubi. Shikamaru was more intelligent than he let on.

Tsunade, who had been drinking sake the whole time with Jiraiya set down the empty, and expensive, white bottle next to the others. "Alright, those are the orders you are all dismissed we'll meet back here on the eve of the 5th night."

Various hai's rang through the room and the occupants left except for the two Sannin, Uzumaki, and Shizune. Gaara couldn't get his fists to come unclenched. "Why are we waiting so long to launch the attack?" he asked monotone deeply confused but furious as hell. "The average lifespan of a prisoner of Akatsuki is two days, and that's if they have valuable information. During those two days, they are brutally tortured and undergo a process that ultimately leads to death." Shizune who was making her way towards the door simply shut and locked it before sitting down again.

"I am aware that she has an unusual healing ability, but I doubt that she'll b able to hold out another 5 days there."

The blonde sannin huffed and reached for the sake bottle in front of Shizune, but the assistant swatted her hand away, "Look, during our last visit to Akatsuki we were able to eliminate 3 more of its members, that means that there are only six left. While it is true they could easily replace them, it is completely impossible for them to replace these," she said pointing to the three rings that dangled on a chain around her neck brushing along her cleavage.

"I do not see the connection you're trying to make," he replied taking his eyes away from his chest, a feat Jiraiya was having difficulty with.

Tsundade's brow creased in annoyance, "Well as you know the ten rings that Akatsuki possess can't be replaced, so that means that if they're going to extract a bujii with the remaining seven, they're going to need a much longer period of time to do so. Probably a week and a half, this gives us ample time to break in because once the procedure begins they'll be easily distracted. All six members must be physically present at the ritual. The most we'll have to deal with are clones with chakra levels of only 50 at most."

"How can you be certain that they'll be extracting a bujii during this time?" he asked. Sakura had written to the Leader saying she knew where the two tails was. Could it be possible for them to retrieve it so quickly?

The pigtailed woman looked deeply confused and turned to her apprentice. "I though you said she trusted him."

Shizune rolled her eyes, "And how in the hell am I suppose to know who she trusts and who she doesn't?"

The older woman downed the rest of her sake. "Tsunade-sama all I can tell you is that she wouldn't have let him get as close as she did if she didn't think 'something' of him. I mean she actually allowed herself to seen in public with him, it was all over town," she said matter of factly.

"Then why in the hell didn't she tell him-

"Because she didn't want him to get hurt," Uzumaki's voice cut through their argument. "She knew what a burden it would be for him to know and she didn't want to risk losing his friendship."

Gaara looked towards the Kyuubi vessel and found him staring at the wall.

"She did trust you, for what it's worth, I could tell it in her eyes. She was scared to tell you because everyone that has ever found out about her secret has either died like Anko, Kakashi, and Kurenai or had to resort to hiding, like you did Shizune and Baa-chan."

Tsunade snorted, "I didn't hide you little prick. I just had better things to do than baby-sit a walking-

"You mean better things to do than be a mother," Uzumaki said nonchalant still staring at the screen wall.

Gaara learned that day that the only one who could ever shut up the annoying woman was the future Hokage of Konoha. She didn't argue back or look annoyed as usual, she simply hung her head and took the unsuspecting Jiraiya's sake.

"Shizune, could you please put up a sound barrier please?" the older man asked.

"Hai Jiraiya-sama," she replied clapping her hands together once and making the hand seals, "It's done."

Jiraiya yawned into his hand and stood up stretching. "What Naruto said is true Gaara, so when we let you in on this I don't want you to lose yourself."

The uneasy feeling Gaara had been experiencing since the beginning of this particular conversation doubled. The temptation to drink the sake in front of him was great but he opted to listen to what the older sannin had to say, knowing he wasn't going to like it.

"Cut the crap Jiraiya," Tsunade interrupted, there is no softening _this_ blow," she looked at Gaara straight in the eye and he felt the onslaught of many emotions striking him at once after hearing her confession.

"You see, no matter how Pervert here would of phrased it, it still hurts don't it?" she asked looking a bit dejected herself. "Hate me if you want kid, but nothing can change the past," she finished before collecting herself and walking out of the room, Shizune hot on heels.

The remaining two shinobi waited for what could have been a disaster but it never came. Tsunade had been right in her assumption. The uneasy feeling only spread until he felt nauseous and his mind was flying with thoughts, things she's said in the past were slowly starting to make sense. His chest tightened painfully and Gaara had no idea what the feeling was. The only thing that was repeating in his mind now was Tsunade's words.

"Sakura is the Hachibi vessel and I was the one who sealed it in her. They're probably extracting the demon from her as we speak."

_DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD_

_AN: ) Okay so was that a really bad cliff hanger or what? First, I want to apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. It has been sitting here just waiting for me to get a spare moment to edit but school is a major bummer. I seriously have no free time and I'm taking an online test while I write -- probably won't do too good on it._

_Cloris myth- I went back and checked and she was actually a Greek nymph and she wasn't kidnapped by anyone before Zepherus, I think I wrote that somewhere. Anyway, just look for it on the encyclopedia and all kinds of good info will pop up. I kind of liked how Sakura and Gaara fit into this particular myth. _

_Ah and the hachibi means eight tails, again I don't remember where I read that the hachibi was probably a snake……but I thought if it IS a snake Orochimaru would have some kind of association with it, right? So yeah….the eight tails snake is also a myth and if you type that in it will pop up more info _


End file.
